In early May, the security cabinet of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met and agreed that Israel would “capture” Gaza and remove its Palestinian population “to protect it”. To achieve this policy of annexation of Gaza, the Israelis tightened their siege by preventing the entry of food, water, electricity, and other humanitarian aid (they had already enforced a blockade of aid since March 2, 2025). Then, the Israelis began to bomb Gaza with increased ferocity, with Israeli ground forces gathering at the edge of Gaza and entering in short bursts. By May 18, these Israeli ground forces began measured entries into Gaza. After intense pressure, the Netanyahu cabinet agreed to allow “basic amounts” of food into Gaza. Meanwhile, the Israeli army released a “forced displacement” order for the people in Khan Younis.
There is a tangle of war crimes in the paragraph above: 1. Population transfer in an occupied territory is illegal. 2. Deprival of food, water, and electricity for civilians is illegal. 3. Annexation of an occupied territory is illegal. 4. Deliberately killing civilians in a war zone is illegal.
It would be meaningless to recite chapter and verse to prove this, since it is by now well known that the Israelis have violated every single one of the laws of war and that their violations have been meticulously documented by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, in her annual report (and in recent statements, where she has spoken of a “[tragedy] foretold and [a] stain on our collective humanity”) and by Amnesty International in their report, “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza”. In Amnesty’s recent annual report, there is the chilling sentence: “the world has been made audience to a live-streamed genocide”.
Eradication
The bombardments to prepare the way for the annexation have been ferocious. The Israeli bombs have eradicated entire families of Palestinians. The word “eradicate” is generally used in reference to pests or diseases. It is an ugly word. I am using it here deliberately. It comes from the Latin word eradicare, which means “to pull out from the roots”, a botanical meaning that now has far more sinister meanings when used in reference to humans. Eradicate sounds clinical when it refers to weeds, but horrendous when applied to humanity, just as clinical and bureaucratic as the term “The Final Solution” (when used to refer to the horrendous genocide of the Jews in Europe). Hitler used the terms “annihilation” (Vernichtung) and “eradicate” or “exterminate” (ausrotten) when he spoke of Jews in the 1930s, and then when he spoke of the Final Solution (Endlösung) in the 1940s. Language is cruel, already bearing the implications of the deed.
Consider the deed.
May 19, 2025.
At 6 am, a group of Israeli special forces (mista’arvim) entered Khan Younis disguised as Palestinian women. They came under the cover of F-16 airstrikes and quadcopter drone strikes. The special forces soldiers executed Ahmad Kamel Sarhan in front of his family. Then they kidnapped his wife, his son Mohammed (age 12), and other, older children. No one knows where they have been taken. At least sixteen civilians died in the operation. Their names are:
- Abeer Salah Khamis Ayyash
- Ahmad Akram Mohammad al-Dali
- Ahmad Kamel Hamdan Sarhan
- Ahmad Mohammad Abu al-Rous
- Ahmad Mohammad Kawarea
- Elin Ashraf Hamdan Shalouf
- Hasan Mahmoud al-Astal
- Ibrahim Hamed Hussein al-Aqqad
- Laila Fadi Naeem Ayyash
- Malak Youssef Qeshta (Shalouf)
- Mohammad Mahmoud Kawarea
- Muhannad Mohammad Kawarea
- Nabila Abd Wafi (Abu al-Rous)
- Saja Salim Ibrahim Asleeh
- Samira Abdel-Majid Ahmad al-Qarra
- Tawfiq Ali Hamdan al-Qarra
An Israeli tank fired a shell at a home in the al-Amour neighborhood in al-Fakhari, to the east of Khan Younis, and wiped out Safa Alyan Saleem al-Amour and her six daughters, Sama Rashad Omar al-Amour, Lama Rashad Omar al-Amour, Saja Rashad Omar al-Amour, Leen Rashad Omar al-Amour, Nada Rashad Omar al-Amour, and Layan Rashad Omar al-Amour.
Israeli artillery shellfire hit a house in al-Fakhari, killing five members of a family: Jumana Kamal Muhammad Abu Daqqa, Wassim Muhammad Ali Abu Daqqa, Siraj Muhammed Ali Abu Daqqa, Jolan Muhammad Ali Abu Daqqa, and Jilan Muhamed Ali Abu Daqqa.
These are a few of the attacks that took place on one day in one part of Gaza, from where I was merely able to get reports from people on the ground as well as press reports. The attacks took place as well in Gaza City, near the Indonesian Hospital, which had been targeted the day before. Other names could be filled in here for those killed by other deliberate acts of violence.
These attacks come at the same time as a severe crisis of hunger inflicts itself upon the people of Gaza, with children hit hardest. At least fifty-seven children have already died of malnutrition in Gaza, while 71,000 Palestinian children struggle to eat. The World Health Organization warns of stunted growth, impaired cognitive development, and poor long-term health for the children who do not die. The Food and Agriculture Organization warns of “famine looming” in Gaza. Everyone warns about this or that. But these warnings amount to nothing. The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Thomas Fletcher, condemns Israel’s “cruel collective punishment” of the Palestinians. He knows that “collective punishment” is a war crime.
Consider the warnings. Consider the deed.
Consider the genocide.
