By Serge Jordan
In the dead of night, in the midst of Ramadan, the Israeli regime resumed its mass bombing of Gaza, obliterating any remaining semblance of holding onto what was already an increasingly precarious and threatened ceasefire.
The claim that Israel merely targeted Hamas operatives in this new barrage of airstrikes is a repugnant whitewashing of industrial-scale slaughter. The latest reports indicate that at least 400 people were massacred across the Strip, including over 170 children, and many victims are still under the rubble. Entire families were wiped out from existence.
For over two weeks before yesterday’s full-blown torpedoing of the ceasefire, Israel had cut off electricity supplies and blocked all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza—no food, water, fuel, or medicine was allowed in. This total blockade was imposed just minutes after the first phase of the cease-fire had formally expired on March 2. As a direct result, the already widespread hunger deepened, with UN rapporteurs calling it “the fastest starvation campaign in modern history.”
Over the past two months of ‘ceasefire’ —which brought relative relief for the population of Gaza after one and a half years of relentless bloodshed— sporadic Israeli airstrikes had also continued. In total, at least 150 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza during that period (an average of three people every 24 hours), mostly through sniper and drone attacks.
Across the region, Israel’s war machine never rested either. The Israeli military launched repeated airstrikes on Lebanon and seized on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December to go on a bombing spree in Syria while expanding territorial land grabs in the south.
Creeping “Gazaification”
In the West Bank, a creeping “Gazaification” has displaced over 40,000 Palestinians and killed hundreds in near-daily military raids. Even as the renewed slaughter in Gaza rages on, the last 48 hours saw a non-ending attack on villages around Hebron and Tulkarm. Moreover, while it is reported that nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been released from Israeli (torture) jails in recent weeks, over 15,640 have been arrested in the West Bank since October 7, 2023.
Yet the full resumption of the bombardment of Gaza marks the beginning of a new, potentially even bloodier phase. Israel has issued mass evacuation orders for the entire border of the Gaza Strip, designated a “dangerous zone”.
Netanyahu, the genocidal warmonger-in-chief, stated that this new assault was “only the beginning” —making clear that from his government’s perspective, this is intended as more than a short-lived pressurising tactic. This is also indicated by the fact that former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose Jewish Power party had left the government in January over the ceasefire deal, has been triumphantly brought back into the war cabinet.
Netanyahu’s blood-drenched regime has predictably attempted to blame the collapse of the ceasefire on Hamas. In reality, Hamas had complied with all the terms of the deal’s first phase.
The truth is that Netanyahu was opposed to the second phase of the deal from the outset, as it included a ‘permanent’ ceasefire and required a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza —terms that, if implemented, would have precipitated the fall of his far-right coalition.
Israeli officials repeatedly stated that they would not withdraw unless Hamas was completely dismantled. They demanded the release of all remaining hostages while simultaneously sabotaging any transition to phase two (which was supposed to bring about their return). In other words, they were making up new conditions as they go, effectively demanding Hamas’s unilateral and complete surrender, and attempting to decouple the release of the hostages from any commitment to end the genocide.
It is clear that the Israeli regime cynically exploited the initial phase of the ceasefire only to derail it when it no longer served its interests. It used it to extract as many hostages as possible to try and diminish the domestic political backlash in its pursuit of the genocide. Now that the space for this maneuver has been exhausted, the bombs have started falling again, with the full blessing of the Trump administration.
Trump’s role in greenlighting the slaughter
Trump’s administration was fully consulted prior to the attacks, as confirmed by the White House. The new US President has emboldened Israel’s extermination campaign not just through direct coordination and by flooding the Israeli state with billions in new weapons, but also by waging an unprecedented domestic crackdown on the Gaza solidarity movement.
His executive order allowing for the arrest and deportation of visa holders protesting Israeli policies, the arrest of Palestine solidarity organiser Mahmoud Khalil, and the threats to cut funding to universities that don’t toe the line —all these moves are designed to create a chilling effect amongst those opposing the genocide, and provide Israel with a freer hand to “finish the job”, as Trump himself put it.
His open, uninhibited endorsement of the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip has provided additional steroids to the most rabid factions of the Israeli ruling class for this latest war drive.
This new US-backed Israeli rampage has come alongside a parallel military escalation in Yemen. In response to the humanitarian blockade of Gaza, the Houthis had announced the resumption of their disruption of shipping routes in the Red Sea. The Trump administration lashed out in response, launching dozens of airstrikes on Yemen over the weekend —the largest US attack on Yemen in years— killing scores of civilians.
The masks have fallen. Trump’s earlier self-styled posturing as a “deal-maker” and “peacemaker” lies already in tatters, as he embraces the more ‘classical’ role of directing naked US military aggression. This marks a turning point: his campaign rhetoric about ending “forever wars” is now dramatically colliding with reality, and even parts of his electoral base will be taking note.
In retaliation to the US attacks, the Houthis struck a US aircraft carrier operating in the region. Trump’s administration has vowed to keep bombing Yemen until all attacks on international shipping cease —while holding Iran directly responsible for “every shot fired by the Houthis.”
Coming from US imperialism’s frontman, responsible for “every shot fired” by the Israeli army, this is yet another illustration that imperialist hypocrisy knows no bounds. Trump funds, arms and cheers on genocide with one hand, while raging at those who dare shoot back with the other.
The implications of such rhetoric —amid a new spiral of genocidal violence in Gaza, Israel’s renewed push for regional power projection linked to advancing its Zionist project of a “Greater Israel”, and Trump’s threats of military action should Iran defy his ultimatums on its nuclear program— all increase the risk of a military assault on Iran, either directly by the US or by Israel with US backing, that could engulf the entire region in a catastrophic war.
Protests
Mass protests erupted across Yemen in response to US bombings, highlighting the boiling anger against imperialist and Zionist aggression. Smaller spontaneous protests broke out in various other places around the world, most notably in Jordan and Morocco. These mobilizations underscore the urgent need to revive and expand the global movement against the Gaza genocide and for Palestinian liberation more generally.
In the US, the Trump administration has taken advantage of the lull in that movement to strike a hard blow at its core. But this could backfire. The vicious crackdown combined with Israel’s renewed deadly offensive may —and certainly should— ignite a new explosion of resistance. The protests to demand Mahmoud Khalil’s release are a spark of hope that could help light such a fuse.
Even inside Israel, few are buying into Netanyahu’s claim that the resumption of the bombing will help free the remaining hostages. Hamas itself has stated that Israel’s attacks amount to a “death sentence” for those still in captivity —a conclusion that is becoming self-evident to many Israelis: hostage releases have happened during ceasefires, not when bombs were raining down on Gaza.
However, Netanyahu’s overriding motivation is not in saving the hostages, but in saving himself —and he is ready to sacrifice countless Palestinian lives to that goal. His corruption trial testimony was meant to take place on the same day as this new assault on Gaza, and it has conveniently been postponed at his own request. The link between his political survival and the continuation of the genocide couldn’t be more transparent.
Yesterday, the ‘Hostages and Missing Families Forum’ issued a statement saying: “The claim that the war is being renewed for the release of the hostages is a complete deception – military pressure endangers the hostages and soldiers.”
While expressing opposition to the new military assault on Gaza, the statement makes no mention of the 400+ Palestinians slaughtered in said assault. The opposition movement within the ‘Green Line’ has to be grounded in a firm and unequivocal opposition to the genocidal siege and relentless destruction of Gaza, which not only puts the captives’ lives at greater risk, but obliterates the very fabric of life for the two million Palestinians who are bearing the brunt of this horror.
Need to break the cycle
As long as the Israeli state is allowed to sustain its occupation and systemic oppression of the Palestinian people, the cycle of bloodshed will continue. Breaking this cycle demands active efforts to build solidarity with the Palestinians, and an uncompromising struggle against their constant dehumanization.
Several demonstrations took place in Israel yesterday, and more are planned today and in the coming days. These have included small but significant protests explicitly against the Israeli army’s renewed assault. In Haifa, for instance, an anti-Zionist demonstration demanding an end to the siege, occupation, and genocide gathered over 100 people before being violently repressed by the police. Held in an Arab neighborhood, it received strong support from passersby.
Yet the largest protests so far were originally sparked not by the resumption of the bombing of Gaza but by Netanyahu’s recent attempt to fire the head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency —a move that is part of his broader push to tighten his grip over the state apparatus. Leading this movement against Netanyahu are former military, police, and security officials, alongside business leaders and pro-capitalist opposition politicians.
While Netanyahu may have bought himself some time, the fractures within Israel’s ruling elite will not go away —especially as the military onslaught on Gaza goes back to full force. But left to its own devices, this internal power struggle will resolve nothing. It is not for the generals, oligarchs, and bureaucrats to break this deadlock, but for the masses themselves to chart a new course —one that turns its back on the entire racist, colonial edifice of Zionism, and its occupation and national oppression of the Palestinians.
The road ahead
Israel’s barbarous rampage has entered a new phase, backed to the hilt by the Trump administration. The renewed bombing of Gaza, the crackdown on solidarity movements abroad, the airstrikes on Yemen, and Netanyahu’s use of war as a desperate bid to prolong his own political survival are all interconnected elements of this reactionary escalation.
However, it is now abundantly clear that neither Trump, Netanyahu nor all the architects, profiteers and political and military enforcers of this genocide will stop unless they are forced to.
No amount of “concern”, half-hearted rebukes and hypocritical hand-wringing from EU leaders or other governments will do anything to end this carnage. Nor will the corrupt Arab regimes, whose plan for Gaza entails eventually handing over the control of the Strip to the Palestinian Authority —the same discredited entity that has not only maintained its security collaboration with the Israeli regime throughout the genocide, but has also escalated its own brutal repression against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The capitalist class and its politicians will not ‘grow a conscience’ —on the contrary. The ruling classes across many western imperialist states are escalating their crackdown on the Palestine solidarity movement —often branding those who oppose the genocide as terrorist sympathisers, while fueling anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism. This serves as an ideological battering ram to push through and deflect from their increased authoritarianism and broader shift to the (far-) right.
It is the task of the workers, the youth and the oppressed of the world to bring this horror to an end.
The international mass movement against the genocide must restart and escalate now. The streets must be flooded. Student campuses must be shut down, and turned back into hubs of resistance. Most crucially, the organized working class —the force that has the power not just to protest war, but to stop it in its tracks— must take decisive action.
While they may turn a blind eye to millions marching, even the most extreme warmongering politicians cannot ignore the docks, the transport networks, the banks, the weapon factories, the supply chains grinding to a halt. Over the past year and a half, we have seen glimpses of this power—from dockworkers refusing to handle Israeli cargo to transport workers blocking arms shipments in several countries.
But these must not remain isolated actions; they must become the spearhead of a conscious, coordinated and international offensive against the imperialist war machine and genocidal escalation in the Middle East.
The fight against Israel’s genocide is not separate from the fight against the capitalist system that enables it —a system that survives through war, exploitation, and plunder. The same governments that arm and fund this slaughter are waging their own offensive on working class people at home. The same capitalist states that stand by as Palestinians are massacred impose austerity, slash wages, privatize public services, ramp up militarisation and criminalize protest in their own countries. The same billionaires who profit from weapons sales profit from the exploitation of workers everywhere. That is why the struggle against this genocide, against imperialist war, against Trump, Netanyahu and all far-right forces, should be part of the fight for a socialist alternative in the region and globally.
