Israel is ramping up its killing in Gaza, seizing more land to prepare for permanent military control and at times murdering more than 100 Palestinians a day.
Israel’s lies that it targets only Hamas fighters were exposed when phone footage taken by an assassinated Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedic was released by the New York Times. The video shows clearly marked ambulances being ambushed by IDF soldiers, killing 15 medics in PRCS uniforms.
Israel originally claimed that the PRCS workers were “terrorists” approaching in “suspicious vehicles”. It tried to cover up this war crime by burying the medics in a mass grave.
Re-occupying Gaza
After breaking the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan is to seize more land for long-term occupation, cage residents into containment zones and force Palestinians to leave Gaza.
The IDF have established a new “Morag corridor”—a narrow strip running between Rafah and Khan Younis to its north, designed to separate the cities and control movement. The IDF now claims the entirety of Rafah as part of its “security zone”.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has been explicit about Israel’s aims, saying during a visit to the Morag corridor that “we are working to advance a voluntary emigration program for the residents of Gaza in line with the US President’s vision”.
Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza has stalled because Egypt and Jordan have refused to take in the two million Palestinians. Israel is reportedly trying to pressure African countries to accept them.
Israel now controls more than 50 per cent of the land in Gaza. Its military buffer zone within Gaza’s boundary has doubled in size—in some places to three kilometres wide—with the IDF making the area uninhabitable by razing homes, farmland and infrastructure. Israel continues to hold the Philadelphi corridor along the border with Egypt.
It has completely prevented any aid from coming into the strip for over six weeks—meaning food and medical supplies are again running out. And the IDF have reoccupied the Netzarim corridor just south of Gaza city, bisecting the strip into north and south.
IDF soldiers say that when expanding the corridors and buffer zones, they were told by their commanders to shoot to kill any Palestinian—including women and children.
Netanyahu still says he wants Hamas obliterated—something military experts and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant say is impossible.
Despite Israel’s genocidal onslaught, Israeli intelligence estimates that Hamas still has 20,000 fighters, compared to 25,000 to 30,000 before October 2023.
Although it has lost many commanders it has attracted thousands of young and inexperienced recruits. There are plenty of weapons and explosive devices in Gaza, many fashioned out of unexploded IDF bombs.
There are signs of increasing dissent inside the Israeli military. Nearly 1000 current and former Israel Air Force reservists signed a letter to Netanyahu demanding Israel end the war in exchange for all Israeli hostages. They also gained the support of another 250 intelligence reservists.
But the signatories are not calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine and full democratic rights for Palestinians. Rather, they are disagreeing with the government over how best to control Palestine and the acceptable cost of occupation.
Mainstream media and Israel have been claiming that protests inside Gaza that at times chant slogans like “Hamas out” prove Hamas does not enjoy popular support.
The protests are the result of the catastrophic conditions in Gaza and the desperate desire for the genocide to end. Protest organiser Saad told Al Jazeera, “The people’s demands stem from an unbearable reality—if ending the war requires Hamas to step aside, then so be it.”
Hamas has already accepted this, saying it would give up political control of Gaza. But it refuses Israel’s demand that it disarm and leave. And its role resisting Israel’s occupation still has significant popular support.
The genocide has no end in sight. Trump and Western leaders like Anthony Albanese who continue to allow the export of weapons to Israel have given Netanyahu the green light to escalate the slaughter.
We must keep campaigning to demand sanctions on Israel and a halt to the arms trade until there is justice for the Palestinians.
By Luke Ottavi
