THE murder of civilian humanitarian aid workers operating in Gaza ought to be a turning point in the onslaught. Public opinion was rightly and profoundly shocked by the killings, not least because it has emerged that the vehicles in the convoy were systematically attacked one after another after they had rescued passengers from the other vehicles.
 
There have been a series of Israeli explanations for the attack. None of them have been remotely credible. One of the first I heard was from an Israeli spokesperson, who claimed that they were victims of a bomb from Hamas that had been left at the side of the road.

Another official response was not to excuse at all but to say it occurred because an individual Palestinian was being targeted. Netanyahu himself described it as “an unfortunate consequence of war.” Now, Israel says it is investigating the executions.
 
This merely highlights the whole macabre farce of Israel investigating its own war crimes, or “demands” from Western politicians that it does do so. The murders of prominent figures such as Rachel Corrie, or Shireen Abu Akleh, were covered in a shroud of (frequently changing) lies from official sources, eventually followed by belated admission. It is an extraordinary rarity for anyone in the Israeli military to be held accountable, and rarer still for there to be punishment. The officials who gave the order for such barbaric acts are completely exempt and unaccountable.
 
You would not think it might require something more than over 30,000 Palestinian deaths to stir people into action. Yet, while overwhelming majorities of the world and the people of this country have long demanded a genuine ceasefire, only now with the deaths of the aid workers have some of our press and leading politicians criticised Israel at all. The green light they have given for what has happened to date is unconscionable.
 
Even so, better late than never. I for one will join hands with anyone who now genuinely acts to end the bloodshed, whatever their delays or obfuscations in the past. We need an active coalition of the majority will to impose a ceasefire.
 
It may comfort some of the loved ones of those killed for Joe Biden to offer his “thoughts and prayers” — I hope it does. But that is nowhere near enough. The time for action has long since passed. Recent events have shown that when the US administration actually places demands on the Israeli government, it immediately complies.
 
The murder of the aid workers is not an isolated incident. Time magazine reports that up to 450 humanitarian aid workers have been killed. Contrary to Netanyahu’s assertions, this does not just happen in war. Aid workers are protected under international law and in practice, a series of protocols are put in place to ensure the law is effectively upheld.
 
The killings are too numerous to be accidental. But the same applies to medical workers of kinds based in Gaza, or the journalists and not forgetting the vast number of unarmed civilians and children who have been slaughtered. There is too much evidence, and the numbers are so great that it is inconceivable that any of this is accidental.
 
To take one example, according to Unicef 545 children have been killed in the ferocious fighting in Ukraine that began over two years ago. Of course, one child killed is one too many and the fighting there should be stopped too. By contrast, the number of children killed in Gaza in six months is now just under 14,000. The Israeli claims that children are not being targeted do not bear any scrutiny.
 
These and other war crimes were the subject of a letter by 600 senior lawyers addressed to Rishi Sunak earlier this week. The letter has the force of considered legal opinion provided by some of the most senior non-serving judges in the country, including Baroness Hale, former president of the Supreme Court.
 
Of course, no newspaper can reproduce a 17-page legal opinion. But it is such a mine of information and provides such a damning indictment of Israeli actions that it could usefully provide the source material for a feature of its own.
 
The International Court of Justice has already ruled back in January in a provisional order that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza. The latest considered legal opinion from the pre-eminent jurists in this country only confirms the force of that order.

The evidence of war crimes has only mounted since. We also have the force of the ceasefire resolution passed at the UN security council, which this country voted for, although the US introduced the legal innovation that such resolutions were not binding. US exceptionalism really is exceptional.
 
To be clear, politicians’ claims which absolve Israel of war crimes are completely self-serving and are based on no legal authority whatsoever.
 
Of course, the consequence should be to immediately stop all arms sales to Israel, to take active steps effectively to break the siege, and to enforce the UN resolution. But Israel’s main backers are doing the opposite, led by the US and dutifully followed by the British government. Sophisticated weaponry continues to pour into Israel, with ever more lethal capacity. The pressure on all the politicians who stand so flagrantly against public opinion on Gaza must be intensified.
 
The stakes are rising. In the first case are the people of Gaza, who have been displaced, bombed, starved and are threatened with a new assault on Rafah. But Israel is also widening the war, presumably hoping to create a regional conflict in which the US is bound to take its side against Iran and others, as it has already done against Yemen.
 
Widening the conflict seems to be the aim of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the assassination of an Iranian general in Syria. Retaliation is inevitable. The blood-curdling statements from members of the Israeli government certainly suggest that is the case.
 
It would be false to believe that a wider conflict would not negatively impact the rest of the world too, parts of it catastrophically. For the sake of the Palestinians and the wider cause of peace, we must make every effort to prevent that outcome.