des hurst

The Jewish colonization of Palestine that began in the late 19th century, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian natives in 1948, and the oppressive apartheid system are the fundamental roots of all violence in historic Palestine. Over the past year, Israel has conducted a genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza: - Since October of last year, the Israeli military has killed more than 41,870 Palestinians in Gaza, with many thousands more missing and assumed dead, and has injured more than 97,000 others, marking one of the most devastating bombing campaigns in history. - As of July 2024, an analysis published in The Lancet medical journal estimates that the overall number of Palestinian deaths directly or indirectly linked to Israel's genocide is 186,000 or more, encompassing fatalities from reproductive, infectious, and non-communicable diseases. - Hunger and disease are rampant as Israel employs starvation, restricting the flow of food, water, medication, and other humanitarian assistance while dismantling health, water, and sanitation systems. - The Israeli military has displaced approximately 2 million people, or 90% of the population, from their homes, forced them to flee in terror into increasingly confined zones, and subjected them to relentless slaughter by 2,000-pound bombs in areas it labeled as "safe zones" they ordered them to go to. - Israel has devastated much of Gaza, obliterating entire towns and neighborhoods, effectively depopulating northern Gaza, including Gaza City, systematically dismantling the healthcare system, hospitals, civilian infrastructure, schools, libraries, universities, museums, and other cultural and heritage sites, as well as desecrating cemeteries. - The International Court of Justice and a U.S. federal court determined that Israel may be guilty of genocide in Gaza. - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, encompassing the “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “extermination and/or murder.” - Since October of last year and previously, Israel has been detaining thousands of Palestinians and subjecting them to torture, including rape. - Amid global focus on Gaza, Israel initiated a significant escalation of violence and persecution against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli settlers intensified their assaults on Palestinians to forcibly displace them from their homes. -- “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs—it’s all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.” --former Israeli Maj Gen Yitzhak Brick