Israel has approved a new escalation of its offensive in Gaza, preparing to seize more land for a possible permanent occupation.
The Israeli security cabinet has endorsed plans for “conquering” Gaza and setting up a “sustained presence there”, according to government officials.
It is calling up tens of thousands of reservists for the army and wants to flatten any buildings that remain standing, as well as to herd Palestinians into a single zone in the south of Gaza.
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear he has no interest in ending the war. Israel has rejected ceasefire offers from Hamas to return its remaining hostages in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal and a permanent end to the war.
The humanitarian situation inside Gaza is now the worst it has been since Israel launched its murderous offensive more than 18 months ago, killing at least 52,000 people.
Israel has completely blocked all aid and medical supplies from entering Gaza since it broke the ceasefire in March.
In early May, Amnesty International condemned the siege as, “A genocidal act, a blatant form of unlawful collective punishment, and the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”
Israel is inflicting malnutrition and brutal suffering on the entire population. Last month more than 36,000 children were admitted to health facilities with acute malnutrition. The World Food Program says its supplies are so depleted that community kitchens that many have relied on to eat will soon have to shut.
“My children beg me to get them meat or eggs and I have to tell them there is none and I can’t. What crime have my children committed? Why must they starve?” Abdallah Shaqurah, a father of three in Khan Younis told B’Tselem.
“The hunger imposed on us now is crushing. There is nothing available except a little flour, canned goods, rice, grains, peas and beans … Without the soup kitchens, we would have died of hunger by now.”
Israel has bombed tents in displacement camps at least 99 times since it broke the ceasefire, according to a UN Human Rights office (OHCHR) count, including repeated attacks in the Al-Mawasi area, previously designated as a safe zone. It has murdered more than 2300 Palestinians since the end of the ceasefire.
It is also escalating its ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, with the highest death toll there in the last 20 years since 2023. Regular military operations are demolishing homes and seizing more land for Israel settlers. More than 150 Palestinian homes and other structures were demolished in April, including virtually an entire village in Khallet al-Dabaa.
End Israel’s impunity
With the indifference of the Arab rulers and backing from the US, Israel has become even more brazen and violent.
The Freedom Flotilla, attempting to carry aid to Gaza by boat, was hit twice by military drones in international waters shortly after it left Malta early this month. “Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull,” it said.
Israel is also continuing to bomb Lebanon at will, including strikes on Beirut, as well as continuing to bomb Syria and Yemen.
From inside Gaza, UN aid worker Olga Cherevko said governments worldwide have, “A choice—to keep scrolling through the grisly images of Gaza being suffocated and starved or muster the courage and the moral fibre to make decisions that would break this merciless blockade.”
Yet the Albanese government has done no more than issued muted statements saying aid should be allowed in and that “all parties” should return to a ceasefire—refusing to recognise that it is Israel that has unleashed hell and refuses to stop the bombing.
It has done nothing to impose sanctions, end the arms trade or impose any pressure to isolate Israel and demand it end its war crimes.
Dock workers in Morocco have shown the kind of action needed, refusing to service a Maersk ship in April believed to be carrying F-35 fighter jet parts for Israel.
Palestine was an important issue during the election campaign—driving big votes for pro-Palestine independents standing against Labor. But we are going to have to keep fighting to demand that Labor stop covering up for Israel and cut all ties.
By James Supple
