Over the past 11 months it has become increasingly clear that the Israeli state with the backing of the US, is going all out to fulfil its agenda of driving the Palestinian people out of their homeland, by extending and intensifying their genocidal offensive.
In July, Hamas had shown its willingness to agree to a ceasefire proposal put forth by the Biden administration and intermediaries. To scuttle it and provide more justification to continue with their relentless assault, the US imperialists and Israeli state then added new conditions. These included the demand that the Israeli military must retain open-ended control over Gaza’s southern border area with Egypt – known as the Philadelphi Corridor – a demand which they knew fully well would not be acceptable to Hamas. Since then, thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more devastation spread, as Israel has continued its aerial and ground attacks.
In the last week of August, Israel launched a major military assault on the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army deployed hundreds of soldiers, armoured vehicles, bulldozers, drones and fighter jets against the Palestinians in the regions of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas. Scores of Palestinians have been killed and injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank. The Israeli army has asked people to evacuate the West Bank.
On September 1, the Israeli army declared that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza. This has immediately been used by Israeli PM Netanyahu as a justification for not signing a ceasefire deal with Hamas. The US and several European imperialist powers have backed the Israeli PM. Hamas officials have accused the Israeli army of killing the hostages and then displaying their bodies as an excuse to stall talks for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, more than 5 lakh people are reported to have come out on to the streets across various cities in Israel, opposing the Netanyahu government for its continued attacks on the people of Gaza and demanding that the government negotiate for a ceasefire.
Since last October, more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 94,000 wounded. 85% of homes in Gaza have been completely destroyed. The Israeli war machine has ordered residents of Gaza to evacuate 89% of the total area, leaving 2.3 million people to be squeezed into about 11% of the total area of just 141 sq. miles. Food and medical aid supplies have been cut; aid workers have been attacked and killed. Children are dying of severe malnutrition. The civic infrastructure including schools, water and electricity supplies, sanitation, hospitals, etc. has been razed to the ground. Polio and other diseases are rapidly spreading, due to the appallingly low hygiene levels and contamination of water.
The US imperialists and their Western imperialist allies have been rushing more and more arms to aid Israel in continuing and extending its genocidal war. On 13 August they approved a massive $20 billion arms sale to Israel, including more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs, 120 mm tank ammunition, high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles. Since last October, more than 500 aerial shipments and more than 100 shipments by sea have delivered over 50,000 tons of military equipment to Israel from the US.
Israel and the US and some of their allies have also been sabre-rattling against Iran. They are threatening Iran with dire consequences in anticipation of Iran’s retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh by a Israeli missile strike on Iranian soil. Israel has also been bombarding Lebanon as part of its campaign to widen the scope of the war.
The Israeli state and its US and other imperialist backers stand completely exposed as war criminals. They are being condemned by millions of people who stand for justice and peace all over the world. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Israeli state is aiming at nothing less than complete subjugation of the fighting Palestinian people and establishing their total domination over the Palestinian people’s homeland. This genocide is being carried out under the pretext of “Israel’s right to self-defense”. In reality, it is in the service of the agenda of US imperialism, to establish its domination over the strategic and oil-rich region of West Asia, with the Israeli state acting as its main weapon there.
The crimes of the Israeli state and its US imperialist backers against the Palestinian people can never be forgiven or forgotten. The Indian people and people across the world resolutely demand an immediate end to the genocide and the restoration of the land and national rights of the Palestinian people.