[News] Israel refuses ceasefire, carries out most intensive bombings of Gaza yet

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/10/16/israel-refuses-ceasefire-carries-out-most-intensive-bombings-of-gaza-yet/>
Israel refuses ceasefire, carries out most intensive bombings of Gaza yet
Peoples Dispatch - October 16, 2023
------------------------------

Gaza's Al-Rimal neighborhood was razed to the ground after nine days of
nonstop Israeli bombings. (Photo: Quds News Network)

On the 10th day of its war in Gaza, Israel denied any possibility of
ceasefire
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-denies-ceasefire-in-place-to-allow-entrance-of-aid-to-gaza/>
and aid delivery to the besieged territory. It also increased its
indiscriminate bombings in the Palestinian territory with its air force
carrying out the most intensive bombings
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/overnight-airstrikes-in-gaza-reported-as-the-most-intense-ye>
in Gaza since the beginning of the war on Saturday, October 7.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated
that if the current blockade on fuel imports to Gaza – imposed by Israel
last week – continues, all hospitals in the besieged territory will run out
of fuel in the next 24 hours. This will endanger
<https://twitter.com/MSF_USA/status/1713606406018888135> the lives of
thousands people who have been hospitalized after being injured in Israeli
bombings.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed
<https://twitter.com/WHOoPt/status/1713622370584322458> that Israel has
asked 21 hospitals in northern Gaza to be evacuated. Four other hospitals
are already shut due to heavy damages caused by the Israeli bombings.

The WHO said that “forced evacuation of hospitals may amount to a violation
of international humanitarian law.”

Israeli war planes have been targeting medical infrastructure in Gaza ever
since the first day of its offensive, with at least 111 such attacks
<https://twitter.com/WHOoPt/status/1713652055858974991> documented by the
WHO. Various reports indicate the killing of over a dozen medical staff
belonging to different aid groups, including the Red Crescent.

Israeli bombings of Gaza have killed over 2,750 Palestinians and wounded
over 8,700 of them according to the Palestinian health ministry’s statement
<https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/138326>on October 16.

At least 58 Palestinians were killed and over 1,250 were wounded in Israeli
attacks inside the occupied West Bank as well since the beginning of
Israeli war in Gaza. The number of Palestinian children killed in Israeli
strikes has crossed 720.
<https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1713269676057170329>

According to the rescuers working in the field,
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/15/israel-hamas-war-live-gaza-hospitals-fuel-to-last-24-more-hours-un-says>
there are over 1,000 Palestinians missing inside the rubble of buildings
razed down by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing.

According to the UNRWA
<https://twitter.com/UNRWA/status/1713631702101192977>, the number of
Palestinians displaced in the Israeli bombings in Gaza has crossed the one
million mark with more and more moving out of their homes in northern Gaza.
*With US backing Israel, many fear regional escalation*

There is growing speculation of an Israeli ground offensive inside Gaza as
it has gathered thousands of troops on the border fence. Hundreds of
thousands of Gazans have been moving to the south of the territory since
Israel issued an ultimatum to evacuate on Friday.

The Israeli threat of a ground offensive has prompted strong objections
from Arab countries, despite US diplomatic attempts to gather support for
Israel.

Since Thursday, the US secretary of state Anthony Blinken has visited
various countries
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blinken-will-meet-with-saudi-crown-price-sunday-riyadh-us-official-says-2023-10-15/>
in the region seeking support for Israel. While the US has not called on
Israel to deescalate its offensive, it does want to prevent any regional
escalation, fearing responses from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, and other
countries. Yet Israel has carried out several air strikes inside Syria
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-attack-syrian-aleppo-airport-puts-it-out-service-2023-10-14/>
and has launched attacks in southern Lebanon, provoking clashes with Lebanese
resistance force Hezbollah. Hezbollah claimed
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iof-lieutenant-golani-soldier-killed-by-lebanese-resistance>
on Sunday that it had killed one Israeli soldier and one lieutenant in an
attack.

Israel has decided to evacuate
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-to-evacuate-civilians-from-28-communities-along-lebanese-border-amid-attacks/>
some of its settlers from areas near its borders with Lebanon, fearing
increased attacks from Hezbollah.

Most Arab governments have refused to support the Israeli offensive. Some
of them have also demanded adherence to the Arab peace plan as the only way
to find peace in the region.

Blinken was told by the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a key ally
of the US, that, “Israeli (reaction) went beyond the right to self defense,
turning into a collective punishment for 2.3 million people in Gaza,”
*Reuters* reported.

Meanwhile, Iran warned on Sunday, that it will not be a bystander if Israel
chooses to start a ground offensive inside the Palestinian territory.

*Colombian president affirms condemnation of Israeli violence amid threats *

Whilst Israel escalates the violence against Palestinians, the people of
the world have intensified their actions to condemn Israel’s blockade and
airstrikes and manifest their solidarity with Palestine through statements,
street actions, and more.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has been one of the most vocal world
leaders on the situation in Gaza and has vehemently condemned the
disproportionate violence exacted by Israel on the Palestinian people. His
remarks have provoked an uproar from zionist groups in Colombia and even
from the Israeli ambassador in Colombia.

On Sunday October 15, the Israeli Ambassador to Colombia Lior Haitat wrote
<https://twitter.com/LiorHaiat/status/1713635059373105498> on X, “Israel
condemns the president’s statements that reflect support for the atrocities
committed by Hamas terrorists, fuel anti-Semitism, affect representatives
of the State of Israel and threaten the peace of the Jewish community in
Colombia.” Haitat said that as a “first measure” Israel would pause the
exportation of security to Colombia.

In response, Petro said that if relations had to be suspended with Israel,
then let them be suspended, “We do not support genocides. The president of
Colombian [should] not be insulted.” Following this, Petro had posted a
graphic which reads “In Colombia we do not support genocide”.

Following the intense bombing campaign on Monday October 16, Petro called
the killing of children by Israel barbarism, he wrote
<https://twitter.com/petrogustavo/status/1713621633812791383>, “1030
children have been killed in Palestine. Barbarism. Every 15 minutes a child
is murdered in the land where a religion based on love was born.”

Spanish Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra has spoken out
<https://x.com/ionebelarra/status/1713872474348134430?s=20> against
Israel’s actions of blockading Gaza strip and denying hundreds of thousands
of people food, electricity and war. She has stated
<https://x.com/ionebelarra/status/1713836554047602877?s=20> that this is a
“pre-planned genocide in Gaza”. She also called for protests against
Israeli policies and called for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to be brought
before the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez also denounced
<https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/international-law-does-not-endorse-gaza-evacuation-spain/3020236>
Israel’s forced evacuation of Palestinians from northern Gaza as a
violation of international law. He has demanded the restoration of the
supply of aid to civilians blocked by Israel and called for a two-state
solution.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad
Masour, called <https://twitter.com/Palestine_UN/status/1713820026640183722>
what is happening in Gaza as nothing less than a second Nakba, an ethnic
cleansing of Palestinians by the Israelis.

Large scale protests
<https://twitter.com/Palestine_UN/status/1713592436126097585> in support of
the Palestinian cause were held across the globe during the weekends.

A “one million march” was held in Morocco’s capital Rabat on Sunday.
<https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/10/358318/protesters-march-en-masse-in-rabat-to-voice-ever-lasting-support-for-palestinian-cause>
The march was attended by several members of Moroccan parliament despite
the country signing a normalization deal with Israel last year.

Large scale protests were held in different parts of Pakistan
<https://www.dawn.com/news/1780871> on Friday supporting the Palestinian
cause and denouncing Israeli war on Gaza.

Mass protests have also taken place in different cities across the United
States and other western countries whose governments have pledged support
to Israel. They have called for their governments to cease sending aid to
Israel and to demand Israel cease hostilities.
*Read more: As Israel threatens genocide, people across the world march
with Palestine
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/10/13/as-israel-threatens-genocide-people-across-the-world-march-with-palestine/>*

The South African shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo released a
statement <https://abahlali.org/node/17699/> and said that Israel is
committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. It added, “The
Netanyahu administration has announced the closure of water, electricity
and the delivery of food in Gaza. This is a brutal and a complete violation
of human rights. The invasion and killings of the people of Palestine is
inhuman and those who are supporting Israeli attack on Gaza are not human,
just like Netanyahu.”
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