Massacres continue in Palestine – Israeli minister calls for mass-displacement
Featured image: The funeral of the Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri took place in Beirut, Lebanon, on the 4th of January. Source: Al Jazeera
Israel continues the genocidal bombing of Gaza, again attacking hospitals and residential areas. On the occupied West Bank, the IDF continues the mass arrests and killings, destructing residential buildings, shops, water lines and other infrastructure with bulldozers. In Tulkarem, in the Nur Shams refugee camp, Israel conducted a 40-hour long raid, interrogating and torturing hundreds of Palestinian men. In Khan Younis, Gaza, one died last night in according to reports intense and continuous shelling of the surroundings of the al-Amal hospital, the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent. Several others have been wounded. Overnight, fourteen members of the same family were murdered in bombing, the youngest victim being only five years old. The number of the displaced in Rafah have reached one million, whereas the town normally has 300,000 residents. At the same time, bombing of southern Gaza is intensifying.
On the 31st of December the Israeli finance minister Ben Smotrich reiterated his calls for mass displacement of Palestinians, saying that emigration should be encouraged and if there was only 100,000 to 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the Israelis could ”make the desert bloom”. In response, the sports and culture minister Miki Zohar said that “It’s not realistic, and it’s clear that the international community will not accept it”, revealingly not condemning this goal but that Smotrich said it out loud: “With things like this, even if you have a belief or a goal like this, it can be discussed and debated behind closed doors.”
On the 2nd of January deputy leader of the political bureau of Hamas and six other militants were killed in a drone attack in Beirut, Lebanon. No group or State has taken responsibility, but all evidence points to Israel: the attack is similar in methods to earlier assassinations committed by Israel and Israel has the interest and the intelligence to have carried out the bombing. On the occupied West Bank, a general strike has been called for by the Palestinian national resistance to protest the assassination, and demonstrations took place on Wednesday. The attack is another violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon by Israel. Battles between Hezbollah and Israel continue along the Israel-Lebanon border, and the IDF has said that it ”will continue its attack on Lebanese territory as it sees fit” according to Al Jazeera. Last week, Israel also assassinated an Iranian general in Syria, as part of the bombings it is carrying in Syria.
The Palestinian national resistance front continues struggling against the enemy both in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. On the 3rd of January, the IDF admitted the death of another officer in Gaza, and at least nine were reported to have been injured. Israeli sources have also reported that power was cut from the settlement of Malakiyah by guided missiles. In total, the IDF has admitted over 500 Israeli soldiers have died in the war since October and over 2,000 have been injured.
2,000 people gathered in Berlin, Germany, on New Year’s Eve in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The demonstration was under heavy police presence. A demonstration banned for the next day was banned.
In many US cities, protesters disrupted the usual New Year celebrations with protests in solidarity with Palestine. Especially in New York and Boston, large protests were seen.
In Dublin, Ireland, a protest blocked the O’Connolly St Bridge on New Year’s Eve.
A demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people took place also in Enniscorthy, Ireland, on the 1st of January.
In Cape Town, South Africa, a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people was harassed by police, despite the South African State formally has taken Israel to court for committing a genocide.
On the 3rd of January, demonstrations in Jordan and Morocco protested the assassination of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri.
On the 3rd of January the California Assembly’s session was disrupted in California, US by a protest, in which the complicity of the US in the genocide in Gaza was denounced. The protesters also rejected that the genocide is carried out in the name of all jews and under the pretext of religion.
