This past week—with full U.S. arming and backing—Israel slaughtered civilians, bombed hospitals, forced more displacements, seized more land, and drew the noose of starvation and disease even tighter on Gaza. 

And Israel threatened to escalate its military onslaught even further with “tremendous force, from the air, land and sea” along with more displacements, and a total blockade of any food, water, medicine, fuel, or any other goods into Gaza.

The major U.S. media, such as the New York Times, describes all this as “Israel’s war against Hamas.” But as we document here, this isn’t a war—it’s a slaughter, a genocide. And it’s not mainly directed at the reactionary Islamic fundamentalists of Hamas—it’s directed at the 2.2 million Palestinian people in Gaza.¹

Israel’s goal isn’t releasing hostages, as it claims. Its central goal is making it impossible for the Palestinian people to survive as a people on their historic homeland, and very likely trying to drive Palestinians out of Gaza entirely, as the MAGA fascist Donald Trump has repeatedly called for.²

Here are some of its key dimensions, again demonstrated this past week:

Mass Slaughter of Civilians

Every day there are new, gut-wrenching reports of civilians—men, women, and children—being killed or maimed indiscriminately by Israeli bombs, missiles, and tanks, often dozens at a time. 

• On April 19, 300 casualties—92 dead and 219 wounded—were counted over the past 48 hours.
• 34 of these humans were killed on April 18, including 10 members of the same family when their home in Khan Younis was hit.

• April 17, it was reported that Israel struck two different tent camps, killing 17, including children. “A 12-year-old disabled child, he burned to death in his wheelchair,” one witness testified. “We carried him. Even his bones had melted as we pulled him out. This is the child’s wheelchair. A child, 12 years old!”
• Palestinians are being killed in areas that Israel has designated as “safe zones.” One is Mawasi, a strip of land in southern Gaza along the coast, where many have sought refuge and are living in tents. The UN reports at least 23 Israeli attacks there. Israel no longer considers it a “humanitarian zone,” yet it’s unclear if it has bothered to tell people there of the change.
• During the previous week, “the Israel Defense Forces assassinated the commander of Hamas' Shujaiyeh battalion,” Haaretz reports. “The air strike hit a four-story building and killed around 40 people, most of them women and children... eight adjacent houses were damaged, and among the dead were 15 members of a single family.” Massacring 40 people in order to kill one military opponent (if that’s what actually happened) is a war crime which highlights the criminal nature of Israel’s entire campaign!
• More than 1,700 Gazans have been confirmed killed³ in the month since Israel unilaterally broke its ceasefire with Hamas—but the actual toll could be much, much higher. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 62,614 Palestinians including 17,492 children. Some 14,222 people are believed to be trapped under rubble and the number of injured totals over 111,588.
• Nonetheless, after this week of horrors, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called Israel a “nation that desires life,” which was supposedly “fighting for our very existence,” and therefore refuses to end its Gaza slaughter.

Tightening the Noose of Starvation and Disease

• Some two million Gazans depend on incoming aid for survival. Yet for the last month, Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza, refusing to allow in urgently needed aid and supplies, including food, water, medicines, fuel, and more. The aid delivered during the 42 day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has now nearly run out. The situation in Gaza has now reached extreme crisis proportions with the potential for “impending famine and mass death.”
• Thousands of Gaza’s children are suffering from severe malnutrition, and now Israel’s military campaign has forced over 60 percent of its malnutrition centers to close. UN agencies are warning of irreversible harm to Gaza's children.
• The vast majority of Gazans are now living in tents or temporary shelters amidst the ruins of Israel’s bombing. They are crammed into smaller and smaller areas as 69 percent of Gaza's territory is now under evacuation orders or Israeli military control.
• Access to clean water has sharply declined. Over 90 percent of families now lack access to potable water (usable drinking, cooking, washing, etc.) due to Israel’s attacks.
• Sanitation conditions have deteriorated with waste disposal and sewage pumping stations unable to function due to evacuation orders.
• “Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point,” the representatives of 12 humanitarian groups said in a joint statement.
• The UN warned that the situation in Gaza may amount to genocide. "Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza," it said.
• In the face of all this horror and suffering, this past week even Israel’s defense minister suggested the blockade could be eased. He was immediately rebuked by Netanyahu government officials for even thinking about it! He quickly announced there would be no letup.

Bombing Hospitals

• On April 13, Israel bombed Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza.⁴
• On April 15, Israel bombed the Kuwait Specialty Field Hospital in Khan Younis. The Hospital was treating a minimum of 3,500 patients every day, according to a doctor there. “The hospital is providing a solution to the people in light of the collapse of the heath sector in Gaza,” he said. This collapse is due to Israel’s relentless destruction of Gaza’s entire infrastructure—its healthcare system, its food production, its housing, its schools and universities, its places of worship, its museums, even its cemeteries.

Gaza’s One Working Bakery: Forced to Keep Moving

• The World Central Kitchen’s mobile bakery is Gaza’s last working bakery. Its output is constricted by the flour shortage due to Israel’s blockade, so the amount of bread it produces is a mere fraction of what the people need. Now—in order to continue “keeping people alive,” it’s being forced to move from place to place due to Israeli evacuation orders which shrink Gaza down more and more.

This is hell—sheer, unmitigated hell. Made in USA, and brought to you by the state of Israel.