Global South: how Israel-Gaza war and Western reaction are shaping role and ambition of this diverse group of countries
- Middle East conflict is a rare occasion to share a common voice that challenges foreign policy of the United States and other Western powers
- In group without structure or backing organisation, China identifies as a Global South power and shares view of many developing countries on Palestine
The agreement followed reports of humanitarian aid groups, hospitals and refugee camps being targeted and bombarded. Growing humanitarian concerns over Israeli advances in Gaza ramped up concerns in the Global South.
Despite having common ground on the conflict, analysts say the Global South – the loosely defined band of postcolonial and developing countries that spans Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – is not likely to act as one because it is a diverse group without defined leadership or structure.
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“Israel’s bombardment of schools, hospitals, refugee camps [and] religious sites has left very little room for moral support in the eyes of a majority of the world, and in fact has outraged people across the world,” said Zoon Ahmed Khan, a foreign-policy analyst and research fellow at Tsinghua University’s Belt and Road Strategy Institute.
She said this had particularly hit Muslims, Orthodox Jews and many Christians who comprised a large portion of the Global South population because Gaza was seen as a land of sacred history in these religions.