On the 10th day of its war in Gaza, Israel denied any possibility of ceasefire 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 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 the lives of thousands people who have been hospitalized after being injured in Israeli bombings.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed 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 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 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.
According to the rescuers working in the field, there are over 1,000 Palestinians missing inside the rubble of buildings razed down by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing.
According to the UNRWA, 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 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 and has launched attacks in southern Lebanon, provoking clashes with Lebanese resistance force Hezbollah. Hezbollah claimed on Sunday that it had killed one Israeli soldier and one lieutenant in an attack.
Israel has decided to evacuate 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 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, “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 against Israel’s actions of blockading Gaza strip and denying hundreds of thousands of people food, electricity and war. She has stated 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 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 what is happening in Gaza as nothing less than a second Nakba, an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israelis.
Large scale protests 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. 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 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
The South African shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo released a statement 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.”
