Over recent weeks there seems to have been an acceleration of the actions by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and a greater willingness to attack targets which ought to be off limits under International Humanitarian Law. Is this a result of the election season which has seen France and the UK involved in snap elections, and the US engaged in the marathon process they have to elect an new president?

All eyes have been focused on domestic issues and will continue to be so for some time. International issues discussed at the recent NATO summit in Washington focused, as one might expect on threats against NATO members. However, it also spent a good deal of time confirming support for Ukraine, much to be applauded, although they are not (yet) a NATO member.

Given its defensive posture focused on member’s borders the absence of any focus on Gaza is perhaps not a surprise. As a potential source of instability linked to Iran and the wider middle East it might have justified some comment as a contingent risk.

Whether NATO might have commented or not, there appears to be a total lack of political focus on amongst the key external players on what is happening in Gaza and the West bank at the moment. Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be taking maximum advantage of this to the despair of the Palestinian people, and to those in the west, and around the world, watching a process of ferocious but slow motion Genocide taking place before our eyes.