Israel Declares War, Carpet Bombs Gaza, Following Hamas Attacks
The Palestinian people have been living under an occupied apartheid-like system for nearly a century and international law guarantees occupied people the right to armed resistance.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officially declared war against Hamas on October 9 following a series of attacks by the group on October 7. The events represent the most recent tipping point in a humanitarian crisis that spanned nearly a century.
Israeli authorities have reported that at least 1,200 people in Israel have been killed, and hundreds have been kidnapped since the attacks began. The Gaza Ministry of Health has also reported that Israeli air strikes have killed “at least 1,100 people in the Gaza Strip,” — including 326 children and 171 women.
During an October 10 press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington D.C., President Joe Biden called the Hamas attacks “pure, unadulterated evil” and said that the United States will “make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.”
Biden said the U.S. would send Israel “additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish Iron Dome.” (The Iron Dome is an air defense system designed to shoot down enemy projectiles. The U.S. has contributed more than $2 billion to the Iron Dome since 2011 and gives Israel about $3.3 billion in annual military aid.)
In response to the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the IDF is preparing for a potential full-scale ground invasion of Gaza. In the meantime, Israeli forces have proceeded to carpet bomb the area as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip is a small segment of land stuck between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. The population of Gaza is 2.3 million, making it exceptionally densely populated. As a result, humanitarian advocates like Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, have warned against a complete siege, saying that it would cause “utter disaster” for Palestinians in Gaza. For example, in just three hours on Monday morning, IDF air strikes hit 130 targets in Gaza. The air strikes destroyed a refugee camp and hundreds of homes, leaving more than 263,934 people in Gaza displaced, according to the United Nations.
There have been a plethora of claims spread around both social media and mainstream media regarding atrocious actions by Hamas insurgents, such as the beheading of babies and sexual assault. So far, none have been substantiated, and any reputable news organization that published those claims has since redacted them or revealed that they are unsubstantiated. The public should not allow themselves to be tricked into another war in the Middle East based on lies or exaggerated claims.
Instead of committing additional U.S. military support to Israel in their war against Hamas, President Biden should be committing to negotiating a ceasefire. There must also be recognition that the Palestinian people have lived under an apartheid-like system of occupation for nearly a century and that international law allows occupied people the right to armed resistance.
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has released reports explaining why Israel is an apartheid state. The report presents that Israeli policies restrict access to land for Palestinians while allowing Israeli settlers to kick Palestinians out of their homes. The report also explains that while Jewish people living anywhere in the world are entitled to Israeli citizenship, Palestinians born in Israel still struggle to obtain citizenship. In addition, Israel restricts water flow from the West Bank to Gaza to just a few days a week to intentionally cause water shortages.
As a result, B'Tselem concluded that “the bar for defining the Israeli regime as an apartheid regime has been met after considering the accumulation of policies and laws that Israel devised to entrench its control over Palestinians.”
Additionally, data from the United Nations shows that since 2008, Israeli forces have killed more than 6,400 Palestinians, and about 300 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian forces like Hamas. Except for the most recent attacks, Palestinian casualties have routinely outpaced Israeli casualties. This is believed to be a result of the IDF’s policy of “deterrence” that the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) has identified to be part of the “Dahiya Doctrine.”
According to a report by the IMEU, the doctrine “dictates the use of overwhelming and disproportionate force — a war crime — and the targeting of government and civilian infrastructure during military operations.”
The report continued saying, “Investigations by the United Nations as well as Israeli, Palestinian, and international human rights organizations documented numerous cases of Israeli forces committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the disproportionate use of force, the use of white phosphorous in heavily populated areas, and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.”