the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 11, 2024
The Israeli military has claimed that it was attacking Palestinian areas in Gaza and Lebanon to root out terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah. But clearly this explanation is even less convincing today given the destruction of these areas and the assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The Israeli military continues its attacks in ways one can only conclude are directed against Palestinian civilians.
In recent weeks, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked three hospitals in Northern Gaza; the Al-Awda, Indonesian, and Kamal Adwan Hospitals. These hospitals had already been attacked around the same time last year and were already severely damaged. The Associated Press interviewed dozens of witnesses, medical and humanitarian workers and Israeli officials at the hospitals and found little evidence of any “significant Hamas presence” at the facilities.
On October 18, the IDF shelled the upper floors of Indonesian Hospital, forcing staff and patients to flee for their lives. They surrounded the hospital and left staff and patients with little food, water and medical supplies.
October 25, Israeli troops stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital and fired on oxygen tanks, saying that they could be “booby traps.” They fired shells onto the hospital’s third floor, igniting a fire that destroyed medical supplies. An Israeli drone killed one doctor, and two children in intensive care died when generators stopped working. The Israeli military detained 100 medical personnel and continues to hold 30.
They also surrounded Al-Awda Hospital in recent weeks, making it impossible to evacuate six critical patients and leaving staff and patients with little to eat or drink and short of medical supplies.
On November 2, the Israeli military bombed two residential buildings in Jabalia in Northern Gaza, killing 50 children. They fired on the personal vehicle of a UNICEF employee working on polio vaccinations. They injured three children at a vaccination clinic nearby.
And on November 8, they attacked a school in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, killing 12 Palestinians and wounding 12 others.
Finally, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, recently passed two bills effectively banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) from operating anywhere in Israel or occupied Palestine.
The United Nations Human Rights Office estimates 70% of the more than 43,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military following the October 7 attack by Hamas last year have been women and children.