Highland - Palestine

Right now Israel is committing a brutal genocide of the Palestinian people of Gaza, a fact supported by the ruling on the 26th January by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where the Israeli Government is on trial for genocide, and by the International Criminal Court (ICC) whose prosecutors are seeking arrest warrants for Israeli politicians including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for genocide and crimes against humanity.

In an eight month campaign of indiscriminate violence and collective punishment Israel has turned Gaza into a wasteland, with its buildings and infrastructure completely destroyed and its people, half of whom are children, starving and traumatised, with tens of thousands already dead, and millions more displaced. The vast majority of Gaza's population have been forced to flee their homes to the Rafah Refugee camp, which Israel has now begun bombing and shelling with artillery, causing over a million civilians to flee once again, the vast majority of them women and children.

The evidence that Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza is plain for all to see. Since October 2023 Israel has massacred over 36,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, and has seriously wounded over 80,000 people, with many thousands more missing and buried under the rubble. Thousands of the survivors including children have been forced to have amputations and other major surgeries without anaesthetic. Over 90% of Gaza's population are now surviving on less than 1 meal a day.

Over the last eight months Israeli bombing and artillery has damaged or destroyed over 90% of the houses in Gaza, with Israel bombing all 36 of Gaza's hospitals, as well as more than 300 schools. Israeli soldiers have been recorded on video summarily executing civilians, posing with the corpses of their victims, and using bulldozers to dump bodies into mass graves. Israeli forces have been documented by ICC prosecutors systematically targeting and bulldozing mosques, churches, cemeteries, museums, and other cultural sites.

By blockading Gaza's borders and preventing food, water, electricity, fuel and medical supplies from entering, Israel is using starvation and deprivation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Israeli government has been open about the fact that it is using aid supplies to civilians as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Hamas.

Several million people are now surviving in unsanitary tent cities where contagious diseases such as meningitis, jaundice, impetigo, chickenpox, diarrhoea and influenza are rife. Maternity care for women giving birth in Gaza is non-existent, with tens of thousands of newborn babies malnourished. In addition to official casualty figures thousands of preventable deaths are occurring in Gaza due to the destruction of the healthcare system, with people reliant on chemotherapy, kidney dialysis and other routine treatments no longer receiving care, due to Israel's wholesale destruction of hospitals and other medical infrastructure.

The UK government has failed to do anything to prevent this genocide, abstaining on a UN motion calling for an immediate ceasefire, and continuing to sell arms to Israel. Both government and the main opposition party have condoned and excused Israel’s war crimes as acts of ‘self-defence’, despite Israel’s conspicuous failure to comply with international humanitarian law, neglecting to exercise restraint and refusing to show any regard for civilian life.

Time has run out for the people of Gaza. Either the world will intervene immediately to stop the atrocities being committed against them, or we will watch the worst crime against humanity since the Rwandan Genocide 30 years ago unfold  and do nothing. Anyone who believes in universal human values must do everything in their power to prevent this, including through protest and direct action, until our government and the international community intervenes to stop Israel's genocide against Palestinians.