Israel-Hamas at war: Israel 'has lost the moral high ground', says NRC Secretary General, Jan Egeland

In the 110 days since the war started, over 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive on Gaza, prompting the charity Oxfam to describe it as the ‘deadliest conflict of the 21st century’. It follows the October 7 attacks by Hamas that saw 1,200 people killed and around 240 taken hostage in Israel. There is huge pressure internationally for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

In this episode of The Fourcast we speak with Jan Egeland, a former diplomat who helped draw up the 1993 peace agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Oslo Accords.

Egeland, who is now the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy that the scale of civilian carnage in Gaza makes it clear that this is not a conflict between equals. He also looks at the ‘hypocritical’ position of many Western governments who have been quick to call out Russia’s aggression on Ukraine but are not doing the same with Israel’s attacks on Palestine, and looks at how the conflict could worsen going forward if a two-state solution is not reached.

Produced by Shaheen Sattar and Alice Wagstaffe