Israel came close to launching a deadly ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza earlier this week, despite empty warnings from the United States. If the attack continues, the Israeli genocide will take it to even more horrific levels.
Last Saturday, US President Joe Biden said he was opposed to an escalation of fighting in Rafah – which he saw as a “red line” – and that he might not settle for “30,000 more Palestinian deaths”.
He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does more harm to Israel than it helps Israel. “But Biden temporarily added that “I will never leave Israel” and that he would withdraw the weapons.
Netanyahu brushed aside Biden. Il’s feeble pleas and said, “You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is: October 7 won’t happen again. It may not happen again. He has not wavered in his determination to quell all Palestinian resistance and expel the others from Gaza.
Netanyahu said that “without the help [of the captives], there will be no pause in the fighting. “
The Palestinian resistance organization Hamas responded: “While we have definitely committed ourselves and continue to do so with the mediators, our most sensible priority for carrying out a prisoner exchange requires the withdrawal of the enemy, in addition to the return of the displaced. “people and the reconstruction of Gaza. “
There is also imperialist hypocrisy when it comes to helping the starving population of Gaza. The U. S. is abandoning its air aid while, at the same time, Israeli planes, coming from the U. S. , are U. S. -supplied bombs and missiles to destroy those same starving people.
And when aid comes from the top – as many states are doing lately – it carries its own risks. Last week, another five people died during the aid launch after a rig’s parachute failed.
Biden said in his State of the Union address last week that he needs the U. S. military to build a transitional port in Gaza to increase aid supplies. The U. S. says it could take up to 60 days to build such a facility.
But aid may be reaching Gaza via trucks and from existing nearby ports were it not for the planned obstruction of Israel and state-backed settler groups. The only explanation as to why Gaza does not have a port is because Israel has forbidden it to have one. one as a component of the 17-year blockade, which the U. S. supports.
However, on the same day that Biden delivered his State of the Union address, the documents showed that the U. S. state had made more than a hundred separate military sales to Israel since Oct. 7. These include more than £82 million worth of tank ammunition and £114 million worth of parts needed to make 155-millimetre shells.
Biden bypassed Congress to approve those sales.
Biden is concerned about the slaughter of more than 31,000 Palestinians across the State of Israel. He worries that tens of thousands more are injured, hungry or sick. He worries about whether an even bigger massacre in Gaza will lead to more revolts in the Middle East. , which may simply threaten U. S. imperialist interests.
Even before any Israeli attack on Rafah, the city is filled with suffering, horror and death. Last week, missiles hit several parts of the city where more than a million people are trapped in the most terrifying conditions.
Jets bombed the 12-story Burj al-Masri building on Saturday, leaving dozens of families homeless. It is one of the tallest buildings still preserved in the city.
Now it is so damaging there that Ibitsam – who fled to Rafah from her home in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza – has been forced to return. She told Socialist Worker that she and her circle of relatives are nowhere to be found, especially since she is pregnant.
“The only hospital that still offers medical cars is in the center of Alawada, in Nuseirat, a 30-minute drive from Deir Al Balah,” he said. “I’m not sure about the quality of the medical cars there. But I don’t have any choice: My baby is due on April 3rd.
“I know of many cases of pregnant women who have died, either because they were far from a hospital or because health care was poor. “
One of the reasons hospitals are on the verge of collapsing is that Israel is intentionally restricting the source of food and medical supplies. Two more young children at Kamal Adwan Hospital died of malnutrition last week.
This brings to at least 25 the number of Palestinians who have died of starvation or dehydration.
Israeli forces tortured members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), forcing them to claim that they belonged to militant groups. That’s the conclusion of an unpublished report by the agency.
The report states that U. N. staff were subjected to torture, in addition to beatings, waterboarding and dog attacks. This proves that Israeli claims that UNRWA personnel were the Hamas attack on October 7 were lies.
The fiction has led at least nine countries to withdraw significant investments from the humanitarian enterprise that has kept thousands of Palestinians alive. The U. S. recovered about £350 million from the company. Some countries, including Canada and Sweden, have recently re-established their investments.
The report states: “Members of the company were subjected to threats and pressure from the Israeli government while in detention and were forced to make false statements against the company, adding claims that the company had affiliations with Hamas and that members of UNRWA participated on July 7. October 2023 Atrocities. “
The Israeli case opposing UNRWA has collapsed, but that hasn’t stopped its lying machine. Last week, in offering some evidence, Israel claimed that 450 UNRWA members were “militants. “
Israeli forces tightened their grip on the West Bank just as Ramadan began this week. On Monday morning, troops carried out large-scale raids on several towns and villages in the occupied territories. Arrests were made in Ramallah, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Hebron, Salfit and Jerusalem.
The raids were accompanied by beatings and vandalism of Palestinian homes. And last Sunday night, Israeli police attacked Palestinians waiting to begin their Taraweeh prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Troops and police blocked the entrances to the mosque and arrested others at its gates.
Israeli forces have banned Palestinians from praying at the mosque in a planned act of provocation.
The move comes as Israel’s Army Radio reported that the army would deploy 24 battalions, 20 and two special groups to the West Bank. In addition to the 5,000 reserve troops from West Bank settlements, more than 15,000 soldiers in total will now serve in the West. Bench.
The Israeli state also aims to build thousands more homes in the occupied West Bank.
“About 3,500 units of agreement,” Israeli Foreign Minister Orit Strock wrote on Twitter. “We promised, we kept our promises. . . Together, we will continue to drive the agreements forward. “
Western politicians, including British Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron, insist they are taking a hard line on illegally building Israeli deals. But Israel’s continued expansion of that its “harsh words” mean nothing.
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