By JAMES MARKIN
Every day in Gaza brings another massacre as this July has turned into the deadliest month in Gaza in over a year, according to the British-based charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide. Last week, Israel launched a new offensive against Deir al-Balah, the neighborhood in central Gaza. Deir al-Balah is one of the few remaining places in the strip with infrastructure and buildings largely still standing. For this reason, it has become one of the few places with humanitarian infrastructure that remains independent of the Israeli war machine. And for that reason, Israel’s attack on the area is a natural next step that follows Israel’s broader military strategy over the last few months.
In that time, Israel has attacked churches and hospitals, but their favorite target has been lines of hungry Palestinians waiting for food. In one case, on Sunday, July 20, Israeli troops opened fire on a group of Palestinians near the Israeli border, where they were awaiting a UN convoy of flour, causing mass casualties and the deaths of nearly 100 people.
These attacks are no accident. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been trying to shape the facts on the ground to enable a total transformation of the Gaza strip. It has systematically destroyed infrastructure and bulldozed homes, displacing nearly the entirety of the population and attempting to concentrate them into a “humanitarian zone” in the south. Of course, this is not for the humanitarian benefit of Palestinians, but rather to further subject them to the control and brutality of the IDF.
In order to carry out this plan, since the early days of the war Israel has perpetrated a brutal and targeted campaign against humanitarian organizations that are independent of its control, such as UNRWA and World Central Kitchen, thus gaining more control over the food distribution process.
The final stage of the Israeli operation was the creation of the U.S.-sponsored “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation“ (GHF). As with the “humanitarian zone,” humanitarianism is really a smokescreen for the true goals and activity of the GHF, which in reality seeks to leverage the distribution of food in order to further Israeli war goals. Videos have repeatedly showed soldiers at GHF distribution sites using pepper spray and even live rounds against those seeking food. According to the UN, as of July 21, 1054 people were killed trying to get food since late May, including 766 at GHF food distribution centers. Just as with Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon during their invasion last year, the real reason Israel has sought to substitute the GHF for the UN is demonstrated by Israel’s actions. Unlike the UN, the GHF can be counted on to go along with Israeli narratives and plans to use humanitarian aid distribution in order to change facts on the ground in a way that enables Israel’s ultimate goal.
Those on the ground warn that attacks on Deir al-Balah could lead to the destruction of water desalination plants and other critical infrastructure. The Israeli attacks also targeted officials of the World Health Organization; the organization reported that its employees were stripped and interrogated by IDF soldiers, and one of them is still under IDF detention. The IDF offered a flat denial that many of these events happened, instead insisting that “the military is in constant communication with these international groups,” and claiming that the IDF and the WHO continue to cooperate. That this kind of blatant attack on WHO officials happened without significant condemnation from the great Western imperialist powers illustrates the extreme degree of support that U.S. imperialism offers to its proxy state, Israel.
Predictably, Israeli attacks have led to the death of Palestinians from malnutrition. According to al-Shifa hospital, 21 children have died in the last three days from malnutrition. The United Nations reports that one in five Gazans is suffering from acute malnutrition. This is not just a consequence of Israel’s activity; it is a goal of their current strategy, to twist the arm of the civilian population in Gaza until the situation is so bad that they will willingly sign up to be removed.
To that end, Axios reported that an Israeli intelligence official was in Washington in order to seek American help with a reported scheme to potentially deport “hundreds of thousands” of Gazans to third countries. According to the Axios report, the countries named by the Israeli intelligence official were Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya. The feasibility of this plan in the face of both Palestinian resistance, political realities and underlying logistical problems, remains low. However, it is clear that a significant portion of the Israeli ruling class is dead set on this outcome, and it is the duty of the working class around the world to stop it through mass action.
The Israeli intelligence official’s visit to the United States underscores the fact that U.S. support will be necessary if Israel is to have any hope in carrying out its dream of mass ethnic cleansing of the Gazan population. This is why workers here in this country have an even more serious duty to oppose U.S. support for genocide in Gaza.
