In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
Palestinian Monitoring Group (PMG) Daily reports still unavailable.
Gaza Strip
Attacks: There are no safe places for the militarily-dominated population in Gaza, who find themselves subjected to airstrikes and other missile attacks on buildings, homes and many essential facilities, as well as constant gunfire and invasions by Israeli forces. The Israeli Navycontinues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the entire Gaza shoreline.
The Zionist Blueprint
Jewish Voice for Peace The Zionist Blueprint
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The Israeli military has spent the past year committing nearly every war crime imaginable against the people of Gaza. Now, as these ongoing atrocities fall from the headlines, Israel’s ultra-right-wing government is only expanding its radius of destruction.
In the first few months of the genocide, mainstream media outlets worked overtime to manufacture consent for the Israeli government’s mass slaughter of Palestinians. Now, these same outlets have seemingly wiped their hands of the responsibility to report on the US-funded horrors being carried out across Gaza. As international attention fades, the Israeli military is taking the opportunity to expand its campaign of terror and destruction to the wider region.
Zionism has always used the same blueprint. First, decimate the land and ethnically cleanse the people who live there. Then, colonise it. The goal remains the same: To gain as much territory for the Israeli state, with as few Palestinians or Arabs on it, as possible.
Now, we’re watching as this blueprint is brought to bear throughout the region. The ambitions of the ultra-right-wing extremists who control the Israeli government extend even beyond genocide and land theft in Palestine. Leaving the south of Lebanon decimated, Israeli forces are now looking to solidify their illegal claim to the Syrian Golan Heights through, of course, yet another massive bombing campaign.
If Trump’s first term in office is any indication, he’s likely to hand the extremist Israeli government a blank cheque to accelerate its policy of destruction and colonisation at any cost. This comes as no surprise: The right-wing in the US and Israel see their interests as intertwined, and the lives of Palestinians and other peoples throughout the region as entirely expendable.
With all this in mind, it’s crucial that we keep our eyes on Palestine — and on Syria, Lebanon, and the entire region. At a glance, here’s the latest news on the ground:
Gaza
In Gaza, Israel’s genocide continues, despite the lack of US media coverage. This weekend, the Israeli military once again bombed hundreds of Palestinians living in so-called “safe zones” in Gaza, destroying two schools and a post belonging to rescue workers. Survivors described seeing “decapitated and shredded bodies” in the aftermath of the Israeli strike.
The official death toll in Gaza has now topped 45,000, but realistic estimates of how many Palestinians have been killed by Israel are orders of magnitude greater, including both bombings and gunfire as well as injuries, lack of medical care, preventable diseases, and starvation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military targeted and killed another beloved community member in Gaza, leading to an outpouring of grief and fears that, in the absence of international pressure, Israel will only escalate such targeted killings. Khaled Nabhan was the subject of a CNN report last year as he mourned his 3-year-old granddaughter, Neem, whom he called “the soul of his soul.” Neem was killed in an Israeli airstrike, and in the year since, Israeli forces bombed the homes of Khaled’s other family members, before murdering Khaled in a strike on Monday.
This is ethnic cleansing in action: Devastating images shared this week on social media showed Rafah — once President Biden’s “red line” for supporting Israel’s operations — before and after Israel’s genocide flattened the city.
West Bank
In the Occupied West Bank, Israeli ethnic cleansing continues as armed settlers and the Israeli military collude to steal Palestinian land at gunpoint. Last week, Israeli settlers attacked the home of Palestinian elder Abu Ashraf, occupying his home while he was detained by Israeli police. This is exactly how settlers and the Israeli state work hand-in-glove to brutalise Palestinians and steal their homes and land.
Earlier this month, Israeli forces bombed and killed four Palestinians in the village of Sir. The Israeli military and settlers have killed at least 790 Palestinians since October 2023: an enormous spike in Israeli violence in the West Bank that the US media has barely acknowledged.
Syria
Following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the Israeli Government has jumped at the opportunity to further exploit its neighbours’ instability, carrying out more than 800 strikes in the last week alone. On Sunday night, Israeli forces dropped an “earthquake bomb” in the Syrian Tartous coastal region, a weapon so destructive it registered on the Richter scale.
Israel’s bombardment “has rendered Syria completely defenceless.” It’s through this illegal invasion that Israel hopes to solidify its control over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights — and ensure a future Syria too weak to resist its settler-colonial plans for the entire region.
Lebanon
The Israeli military is touting its decimation of villages in Lebanon’s south in an attempt to convince Israelis who have fled from the northern border of Israel to return home. Meanwhile, the Israeli military is still in Lebanon, and refuses to allow Lebanese from the south to return to rebuild their destroyed villages.
West Bank
[Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Since midnight on 07 October 2023, Occupation forces have been imposing a complete closure around the whole of the West Bank,preventing people, including even permit– holders, from entering both the city of Jerusalem as well as Israel otherwise than for specially negotiated exceptions. Permanent military checkpoints impose severe travel restrictions within the Occupied West Bank.