In 2007, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza by land, air, and sea. Since then, the state of Israel has carried out five major aggressions against Gaza.
The first took place in 2008, after the imposition of the blockade. It lasted 22 days, during which 1385 Palestinians were killed, including 318 children.
The second began in November 2012. It lasted for eight days. 168 Palestinians were killed, including 33 children.
The third began in July 2014 and lasted for 50 days. 2251 Palestinians were killed, including 556 children, and 1500 children were orphaned.
In May 2021, the fourth aggression took place during the uprising of dignity that erupted all over Palestine from the river to the sea. It lasted for eleven days, during which 230 Palestinians were killed, including 67 children. Twelve of those children were participating in a trauma recovery program when they were killed.
In October 2023, a new aggression began in Gaza, more brutal and catastrophic than anything that came before. Israeli airstrikes have killed countless thousands of people, including thousands of children, completely erasing scores of families from the civil registry. Over one million people have been forced to flee their homes. Israel cut off electricity, food, and fuel from Gaza and bombed residential buildings, schools, mosques, hospitals, and ambulances, reducing entire neighborhoods to dust.
Today, this assault continues, advancing the same policy of ethnic cleansing.
Contrary to the promises of Israeli politicians, neither the apartheid policies of the Israeli government nor the brutality of the Israeli military have brought safety to anyone in the region. There is no way to stop to the bloodshed without putting an end to the colonial oppression of Palestinians.
In any struggle, those who have the most power and access to resources have the most leverage in determining what form the conflict will take. The Israeli government has exponentially more arms and funding than any Palestinian group; across the course of decades, it has inflicted exponentially more casualties. Some of its staunchest supporters are Christian nationalists and neoliberals seeking leverage in the oil-rich Mideast. Any effort towards change in the region must begin by confronting their support.
People all around the world are standing up for the liberation of Palestine. Palestine must be free.
For more information:
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From the Galilee to Gaza—A Voice from Palestine
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“A Nuclear Superpower and a Dispossessed People“—An Anarchist from Jaffa on the Escalation in Palestine