Khadijah Ali
For the starved and brutalized Palestinians in Gaza, the ceasefire is a cruel hoax. While it was announced by Donald Trump with much fanfare in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, the zionist war criminals have totally ignored it. They continue to bomb Gaza and kill hapless Palestinian civilians.
Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect on October 11, more than 318 Palestinians have been killed by Israel at the time of compiling this report (November 22). This included 22 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on November 22, the enclave’s Health Ministry reported.
Three days earlier (November 19), Israeli air strikes on Gaza City and Khan Younis had killed 33 Palestinians, among them 12 children and eight women. Another 88 people were injured.
The airstrikes were followed by Israeli armour thrust westward into Gaza City and the Shujaaiya district. These extend beyond the yellow line that Israel had agreed to withdraw its forces to as part of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement. The “yellow line” had left Israel in control of nearly 60% of Gaza territory.
The latest incursions extend Israeli military control and drastically shrinks the space for Palestinians. Scores of families are trapped behind this newly-created artificial line making it impossible for them to reach their homes.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary quoted the people as saying “this is a cage, as they’re being pushed and squeezed into the western parts of Gaza.” Palestinians are now being shot because they approach the new, arbitrary line the zionists have created.
The zionists refuse to honour any agreement, even one brokered by their close ally and underwriter Trump. Their evil intent, however, is clear. They want to ethnically cleanse Gaza of all Palestinians by making life so miserable that they would be forced to leave.
Lina Kuraz, a 33-year-old from the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, told AFP that she was worried about the full-blown war starting up again. This was reported by Al Jazeera.
“Every time we try to regain hope, the shelling starts again,” Kuraz said. “When will this nightmare end?” The same sentiment was echoed by several other Palestinians interviewed by Khoudary.
The nightmare Kuraz referred to can be seen in the bombed out cities and neighbourhoods in Gaza. People are forced to live in tents but are neither safe from the ravages of the environment—rains flooding these encampments and soaking their mattresses and blankets—or the incessant Israeli shelling and bombardment.
Israel is also deliberately blocking food deliveries despite agreeing to allow more aid trucks into Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal. The border crossings are still closed, especially the one at Rafah with Egypt. Thousands of tons of food is ready to be shipped into Gaza but it is blocked by the zionist occupiers.
Amid the Palestinians’ desperate plight—and with no end in sight to their misery—the UN Security Council on November 17 approved a US plan. Resolution 2803 hands overall governance of Gaza to a newly established entity, called the ‘Board of Peace’ headed by Trump.
The Islamic resistance groups in Gaza were not consulted. Not surprisingly, Hamas rejected the so-called Board of Peace. It enables Gaza’s permanent occupation under another label while the zionist occupation forces continue their macabre ritual of slaughtering innocent Palestinians.
The Security Council resolution also hands oversight of humanitarian aid to a new body run by the so-called Board of Peace. A new Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), led by the American military, is supposed to coordinate work with aid groups from COGAT, the Israeli military body currently in that role.
The establishment of CMCC was announced when the ceasefire came into effect on October 11. American officials told aid groups that a transition to the CMCC to lead aid efforts was supposed to take place on November 7. On the ground nothing has changed.
Military, intelligence, and political personnel from the US, Israel, Arab and European countries are present on the ground operating out of a large warehouse in southern Israel. It is located about 20 km from the border with Gaza. No Palestinian has been invited to participate.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas and Islamic Jihad were supposed to release all 20 living Israeli soldiers taken prisoner. The Islamic resistance groups scruplously adhered to the agreement. They also made strenuous efforts, despite Israeli obstructions, to retrieve the bodies of dead prisoners and hand them over to the Red Cross.
The zionists, on the other hand, have not released all Palestinian hostages they are holding, including hundreds of medical personnel kidnapped from hospitals. Torture including rape of prisoners in widespread. This is well documented (see also here).
It is the deliberate withholding of food, water and medicines that is inflicting further suffering on the Palestinians still alive. This is done by the zionists refusing to relinquish control of aid supplies into Gaza. Only a trickle is allowed in, exacerbating the famine-like conditions, especially for children.
Their disruptive tactics include denying well-established organisations with a track record of providing such services permission to operate. The zionists have instituted new NGO registration rules. So far, they have denied nearly all requests from established international NGOs to bring goods and personnel into Gaza.
Israeli officials have made no secret of their desire to maintain famine-like conditions in Gaza. They have publicly stated that they will maintain final control over aid distribution thus ensuring that the Palestinians’ suffering does not end.
The Us-zionist intentions are clear. Gaza has undergone de facto partition as the zionists occupy ever larger parts of this tiny sliver of land. Palestinians are being pushed into smaller enclaves that makes it easier for zionist Israel to kill more people. The aim is to make life so miserable that people themselves would want to leave. Several plane loads of Palestinians arriving in South Africa, facilitated by a shadowy Israeli-run group Al Majd, shed light on this sordid affair.
The US-zionist plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and turn into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, as announced by Trump, is being relentlessly pursued. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners will be a major player in this grand conspiracy against the Palestinians, aided by a number of Arabian potentates.
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