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| Volume 54 Number 10, May 11, 2024 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Emergency demonstration for Rafah, London - Photo:
PSC
The world is seeing the slaughter Israel is committing in Gaza which it calls a limited military operation carried out in a humanitarian manner. RCPB(ML) adds its voice to the vigorous and world-wide condemnation of these criminal actions of the US-backed Israeli Zionists against the Palestinian people. The British government, including His Majesty's Opposition, must also be thoroughly condemned for their direct support for the crimes committed by the Zionists, while, of course, expressing in so sincere tones concern for the humanitarian situation. There are a few voices raised in Parliament while the massive marches and student encampments give testament to the people's sentiment. For example, MP for Bradford East, Imran Hussain, put it to the Minister in the debate on the war in Gaza on May 7:
Glasgow, Scotland May 4 - PSC
"With Israeli troops now ready to move into the world's largest and most densely populated refugee camp, where 1.4 million people sit starving and fearful for the lives of their children, I have to ask the Minister just why he did not come to the House today to announce a strong UK response that immediately supports the International Criminal Court's war crimes investigation and immediately ends arms sales to Israel.
"Frankly, it is shameful that the Government have again come to the House with nothing. Will the Minister please answer the question that we have all come to hear answered? What are the UK Government doing to stop the bloodshed and the massacre that are about to happen hours from now in Gaza?"
Flying in the face of reality, the condescending reply was: "He sets out, in eloquent tones, the nature of the problem we face, but he must recognise that Britain, along with a large number of regional powers, the international community and the UN, is trying to stop the very position he sets out."
And many contributions to this debate made the blood boil with exonerating Israel and pinning all responsibility for the genocide on the Palestinian Resistance, of which Hamas is a proscribed "terrorist" organisation in Britain.
Rafah, Gaza, 1.3 million refugees
This contributes to the media disinformation which persists in putting the blame on the Palestinian Resistance for what the Zionists are doing, as well as claiming the genocide the whole world is witnessing is being carried out in a humanitarian manner. The fact is that Israel is bombing Rafah, blocking aid, torturing prisoners and continuing its massacres. Official support or justifications from any quarter whatsoever are quite unforgivable.
Any attempt to provide the crimes and atrocities with a moral justification as the government is doing must be considered as criminal as the crimes themselves. Such crimes could not take place except for those who appease them and give them the green light.
Israel's destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, of all the institutions of civil society, and its violations of international humanitarian law including the killing of journalists, smashing of hospitals, universities, mosques and other religious establishments, libraries and museums could not be more criminal. The wanton destruction is also a futile attempt to smash a people by obliterating their history. It is a vain attempt because the history, memory and intelligence of a people live through the ages, refreshed generation after generation on the basis of their resistance which affirms their right to be.
Amid Bombardments Israel Orders a Quarter of a Million Palestinians in Rafah to Evacuate
Rafah people fleeing Gaza after Israeli threats and
bombing of Rafah
The Israeli military heavily bombed Rafah early on the morning of May 6, before ordering up to 250,000 Palestinians to leave parts of the border town ahead of a threatened ground assault. At least 22 civilians, including eight children, were killed in air strikes that hit 11 homes across Rafah, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The Israeli military dropped flyers ordering displaced people and residents to leave the eastern areas of the city near the fence that separates the Gaza Strip and Israel. It said the military was "about to operate with force against the terror organisations in the area".
On the evening of May 6, the Israeli military reported that it was conducting targeted strikes on Hamas facilities in the eastern part of Rafah. The Israeli Air Force struck more than 50 targets in the city, the Times of Israel reported, citing Israel Defence Force (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari. According to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu the military campaign in Rafah pursues two main objectives - the return of Israelis kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, attack and the destruction of the Palestinian Hamas movement and, ultimately to "evacuate Gaza". Netanyahu's adviser Dmitry Gendelman said the country's military cabinet had not abandoned plans to advance on the city, no matter that the resistance organizations accepted the mediators' proposal from Qatar and Egypt for a ceasefire in Gaza. On May 7, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated that Israel does not intend to stop the operation in Rafah until victory over Hamas is secured, or until the beginning of the re turn of the hostages.
London demonstration standing with Gaza
On May 9, the Central Emergency Committee in Rafah said in a statement that what has been circulating about a limited military operation east of Rafah is nothing but lies refuted by facts and realities on the ground amidst air, land and sea bombardment that affected all areas in the governorate. The committee warned against falling into the trap of misleading Israeli propaganda regarding the ongoing genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, which has opened a new chapter in Rafah Governorate.
The committee stressed that Israel's closure of the Rafah crossing, blocking aid delivery and fuel supplies, heralds a doubling of the humanitarian, environmental and health catastrophe, as the population suffers from a shortage of goods and basic and daily living needs amid the most crowded population in the world. It warned against using the weapon of slow death through starvation against the population, as part of collective punishment policy to force the population to submit and relocate.
The Committee also sounded the alarm against the fact that the only operating hospital, the Kuwait Hospital, would stop operating amid the escalation of Israeli airstrikes, especially after the key Al-Najjar Hospital in the governorate was taken out of service by Israeli threats. It stressed that Israel's claims about safe zones are invalidated by its ground operations that have been targeting everything, threatening the lives of more than one and a half million people who have no alternative shelter.
The committee stressed the need for decisive measures to be taken internationally to push Israel to halt its genocidal war in Gaza.
The Resistance Fights Back
Marseille, France
Al-Qassam Brigades on May 9 announced that one of the Palestinian resistance units detonated a tunnel rigged with explosives targeting Israeli military personnel. This resulted in the destruction of three Israeli vehicles, and a digger, and casualties among the soldiers, including one killed and one injured, according to Palestinian military media reports. Earlier in the day, the Al-Qassam Brigades reported that its forces targeted several Israeli military units in the southern part of the Zaytoun neighbourhood in Gaza City using mortar shells.
The Mujahideen Brigades reported that its forces targeted the "Gaza envelope" with a barrage of rockets. They further targeted an Israeli military vehicle using an RPG shell and also aimed at Israeli troops stationed in the "Netzarim" axis using 107-type rockets.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades reported its fighters have engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli infantry forces in the Shoka neighbourhood, located east of Rafah.
On the morning of May 9, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that Israeli forces advancing east of Rafah had been targeted with mortar shells. They also announced the firing of rockets which targeted an assembly of Israeli military vehicles near the airport east of Rafah. Similarly, Al-Quds Brigades declared the targeting of Israeli military gatherings with heavy calibre mortar shells east of the Shoka neighbourhood
Then on May 10, the United Nations General Assembly voted on a draft resolution that recognises Palestine as qualified to become a full UN member.