Israel has refused to negotiate a ceasefire as it prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Ceasefire talks in Cairo, Egypt, were postponed on Thursday and are expected to resume next week. That’s after the deadline set through Israel on Sunday for a possible offensive against Rafah, unless Hamas releases the remaining hostages.
More than a million Palestinians are trapped in Rafah. It is so dangerous that Ibitsam, who fled 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. , especially since you’re pregnant.
“The only hospital still offering medical care is in the center of Alawada, in Nusierat, about an hour’s drive from Deir Al Balah,” he said. “I am confident in the quality of medical care provided.
“I don’t have a choice. My baby will be born on April 3rd. I know of many cases of pregnant women who have died because they were out of the hospital or because medical care was poor.
On Thursday, Israeli forces killed at least five more people in an airstrike on a mosque in Jabalia al-Balad, northern Gaza.
Just the day before, the terrorist state shot dead those waiting at the Nabulsi roundabout in Gaza City. Israeli forces killed at least two more people at the site of the “flour massacre”, killing another 155 people and injuring more. of 700 last week.
Israel, which is cut off from Gaza, is causing more starvation deaths. At least 20 Palestinians died Thursday from malnutrition or starvation, including the elderly, disabled and very young.
In northern Gaza, where some 300,000 more people still live, the Israeli state has limited aid even more than in Rafah.
Sulaimain Marouf, who helped create street food in northern Gaza, said: “The foreign network talks about human rights. Where are those human rights? Our young people are starving before our eyes.
The charity ActionAid has warned that the aid formula in Gaza is “on the verge of general collapse”. Children in Gaza demonstrated to demand food and an end to the bombardment. In a video posted on social media this week, young people marched through the streets, banging pots and pans and holding symptoms that read, “Bread becomes my dream” and “We need food. “
Global revulsion at Gaza’s horrors has forced Western leaders to say Israel must show “restraint. “
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he had a “difficult but necessary” discussion with retired Israeli general and minister Benny Gantz on stage in Gaza. He added that he was “deeply concerned” about the prospect of an invasion of Rafah.
The United States could save Israel from U. S. weapons in the Rafah offensive, officials said Thursday.
But, as the Washington Post puts it, “President Biden and his more sensible advisers have made no resolution on applying ‘conditions’ to U. S. weapons. “And what he describes as an “extreme measure” is about to happen.
Biden is concerned about the killing of Palestinians. He is concerned about the effectiveness of the Israeli offensive and the possibility that it could unleash wider chaos in the Middle East that would pose a risk to US imperialist interests.
He continued: “The Biden leadership is concerned that the Rafah plan is half-baked and that it will worsen the dire situation in Gaza after the war. “
Whatever the tensions between Biden and Netanyahu over how best to suppress the Palestinians, the West will maintain its castle state in the Middle East.
In Britain, this underlines the desire to act against Israel and its imperialist backers in Downing Street. Friday’s day of action at workplaces and academics and the nationwide protest in London on Saturday may take place just before Israel’s invasion of Rafah begins.
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