Amid international criticism of the brutality of the genocide and starvation being carried out in Gaza, Netanyahu’s security cabinet has decided to further escalate its policy of ethnic cleansing in the enclave. After a week of internal and external discussions and debate, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan on Friday to completely occupy the Gaza Strip. The plan, which includes an unprecedented military offensive on Gaza City, is a sort of “final solution” designed to eliminate or expel the entire Palestinian population.
Today, the Israeli army occupies approximately 83% of the entire Strip, but in more than 660 days of attacks, it has not directly entered Gaza City to occupy it. Just under half of the total population, about one million people, still resides there, and it is believed that Hamas hostages are also being held there.
Faced with a host of criminal charges and the potential collapse of his ruling coalition — which includes far-right proponents of the total annexation of Gaza and the West Bank, Netanyahu is betting his political future on an endless series of escalations designed to appease his right wing supporters and silence his critics and detractors. However, the carnage that Netanyahu intends to unleash, supported by his far-right cabinet, which has expressed its desire to “starve” all Palestinians, “occupy all their lands,” and rebuild a “Jewish Gaza” on the rubble of the current one with the absolute expansion of the settlements, has been met with both internal and external resistance. This includes the outright rejection of the plan from the Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, and the families of the hostages, who have become a powerful political force in Israeli politics.
The official statement went out of its way to refer to the measure as a “takeover,” and not an “occupation,” a deliberate move to avoid the legal obligations associated with a formal occupation under international law. However, a senior Israeli official told local media that the choice of word was for official purposes only, confirming that the real intention of the plan is to occupy the Gaza Strip indefinitely. But security officials have pointed out that a successful occupation of Gaza, one necessary to eliminate Hamas, would require several years of sustained combat to establish.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the military will distribute “humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside of combat zones.” This is a cynical claim considering that the “humanitarian centers” currently run by the Israeli Army and American mercenaries are accused of turning these “aid” centers into actual concentration camps where thousands of desperate Palestinians arrive in search of food rations and are brutally shot by Israeli soldiers. Indeed, at least 1,500 people seeking food have been murdered by Israel in the camps of the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” which Israel uses as a cover for its extermination and humiliation of hungry Gazans.
Netanyahu’s office outlined five basic principles of the plan: “the dismantling of Hamas, the return of the hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza, Israeli security control over the territory, and the establishment of a civilian administration not affiliated with either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.”
None of these points seem realistic or achievable. However, comments from other Cabinet officials revealed that the true objective is to clear Gaza City of civilians within two months, and then move forward with a ground operation.
As has happened in other cities since the beginning of the genocide, it is likely that Israel will launch a bombing campaign aimed at destroying all infrastructure, including residential buildings, roads and streets, healthcare infrastructure, hospitals, and schools. In other words, they are planning to make Gaza City unlivable in order to permanently displace the local population, particularly toward the south, where Israel intends to build a massive concentration camp on the ruins of the city of Rafah (on the border with Egypt) to imprison its 2 million inhabitants, and perhaps even expel them to Egypt.
Already NBC News is reporting a significant Israeli military buildup near the Gaza border, indicating preparations for a possible new ground offensive.
Amid reports about the occupation plan, Hamas said Thursday that the move demonstrates that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in freeing the hostages and reaching an agreement. “Any expansion of the aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park and will come at a high cost to the occupation,” Hamas said in a statement.
The offensive is brutal, and it is also final. Israel is unlikely to achieve its ultimate objectives, and for this reason, it has faced criticism from the Army Chief of Staff and the families of the hostages, as well as from a growing number of well-known figures within Israel, including two of the main human rights organizations and local university rectors who denounced the genocide and famine. Meanwhile, the decision has already been condemned by several countries, and the UN human rights chief called on Israel to immediately halt the plan. International organizations also warned of the escalation of the genocide, and new actions are being prepared in various cities around the world.
But we cannot rely on international institutions or bourgeois states (whether in Europe or the Middle East) to end the genocide. The state of Israel’s genocidal plan must be stopped in the streets. Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, hundreds of thousands of people have mobilized around the world in support of the Palestinian people. The actions of American students, with their “Gaza solidarity camps” on the campuses of some of the most prestigious universities, were followed by mass marches in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain, and many other countries. The most recent was this weekend in Sydney, Australia, where some 300,000 people took to the streets and filled the central bridge with their support for the Palestinian people. In several European ports, such as France, Italy, and Greece, as well as in Morocco and Chile, port workers and activists for the Palestinian cause managed to block ships carrying weapons to Israel. At every cultural event, concert, or soccer match, the cry of “Free Palestine” is heard more frequently and louder every day.
Massive protests are expected this weekend in London and other cities around the world. Meanwhile the PTS, the sister organization of Left Voice in Argentina, a country where President Milei is one of Netanyahu’s main allies and an accomplice to the ongoing genocide, is organizing huge marches in Buenos Aires and other cities across the country on Saturday.
Originally published in Spanish on August 8 in La Izquierda Diario
Adapted and revised for Left Voice by James Dennis Hoff
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