Israel's endgame in Gaza is complete depopulation
The belligerence with which the Israeli occupation regime is pressing ahead with the attacks on Gaza, despite multiple red flags raised about the disproportionate civilian casualties and indiscriminate bombardment of key civilian infrastructures based on fake claims, suggests that Israel is not targeting Hamas resistance fighters. Rather, the real targets are the civilians, with the depopulation of Gaza being the endgame of this atrocious, bloody war.
A recent analysis by Yagil Levy, a sociology professor at the Open University of Israel—published by the Haaretz newspaper— revealed that the occupation state's carpet bombing of the Gaza Strip has killed a significantly greater proportion of civilians compared to the average civilian death tally in 20th century global conflicts. In the first three weeks of the ongoing war alone, civilian deaths constituted 61 percent of all those killed. Since October 7, nearly 18,000 Palestinian people—70 percent of them women and children—have been killed in the densely-populated, besieged strip, including at least 6,600 children, UN staff members, medical professionals, journalists, and intellectuals.
There is a reason for Netanyahu for continuing the war in Gaza: it is his last-ditch attempt to hold on to power. For years, Netanyahu had been fighting corruption charges and internal unrest over his erratic actions, including the curtailing the Supreme Court's powers that led to widespread protests demanding his resignation from office. Netanyahu knows that the moment this war comes to an end, and his war cabinet is dissolved, he might be driven out of office by his political opponents.
Israel has been trying to push the Palestinian civilians into various pockets of the Gaza Strip. First, they forced them to abandon their homes in the north saying it is concentrated with Hamas fighters. Then they proceeded to coerce the civilians to rush towards the Rafah crossing only to be bombed by Israel. Now, even those who took shelter in Khan Younis in southern Gaza—the strip's second largest city—are being pushed into a so-called "safe zone" in a part of the coastal Bedouin town of al-Mawasi. Anyone familiar with the topography of Gaza would know that this 6.5 sq-km piece of land is barren, sandy, and not conducive for human habitation of this scale.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says nine out of 10 people in Gaza are not eating every day. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the situation catastrophic and beyond improvement. The UN fears that the humanitarian situation has collapsed in the besieged strip under bombardment.
An obvious question arises: if Israel's target is Hamas resistance fighters, then why is it punishing the civilians in Gaza, and forcing them further towards the sea, in a barren land, where they will probably die of starvation?
Israel is also arresting civilian Palestinian men—as seen in a footage verified by the BBC—stripping them of clothes and subjecting them to physical torture and abuse, which again is indicative that Israel's ambitions in Gaza is not limited to Hamas alone.
It is evident that Israel is using the October 7 Hamas assault to expedite the genocide of the Gaza population. It continues to threaten and brand everyone who rightfully condemns the appalling atrocities being committed in Gaza as anti-Semitic. But does anti-Semitism include, within in its scope, the colonisation, subjugation and genocide of innocent people?
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is well-versed in regional geopolitics to know that the complete destruction of Hamas is not possible in a month or two—or even in years. But his unwillingness to extend the truce with Hamas and secure the release of all Israeli civilians being held hostage, despite Hamas' cooperation, suggests that the Israeli leader is willing to even sacrifice his own people to achieve the total annihilation of Gaza and the Palestinian people.
And there is a reason for Netanyahu for continuing the war in Gaza: it is his last-ditch attempt to hold on to power. For years, Netanyahu had been fighting corruption charges and internal unrest over his erratic actions, including the curtailing the Supreme Court's powers that led to widespread protests demanding his resignation from office. Netanyahu knows that the moment this war comes to an end, and his war cabinet is dissolved, he might be driven out of office by his political opponents. His trial on corruption charges has already resumed.
At this point, Netanyahu is perhaps eyeing the depopulation and complete takeover of Gaza Strip for Israel as his political salvation—an achievement that he perceives will turn him into a national hero.
The explicit blessing of the Biden Administration has made it easier for Israel to spur on its genocidal actions in Gaza. As recently as on December 10, the United States has bypassed Congress—invoking emergency authority—to provide Israel with tank shells worth $106.5 million to be delivered on an urgent basis. Larger packages of arms, ammunitions and military aid are also expected to be delivered to Israel in phases, arming the already-armed occupation state to carry out the genocide in Gaza.
There is no doubt that the war in Gaza is going to be a costly one in terms of monetary value, time and human lives, including the Israelis'. But, backed by the US, Netanyahu is ready and willing to pay the price. It remains to be seen how much longer the Israeli people will allow Netanyahu to drag the war, and how much longer the US—who vetoed a recent UN Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza—can sustain the pressure from the international community in enabling this genocide.
Tasneem Tayeb is a columnist for The Daily Star. Her X handle is @tasneem_tayeb.
Views expressed in this comment are the author's own.
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