2023 Israel-Gaza war and genocide

This article covers a current event. The information presented may become rapidly obsolete as new developments take place.

Diagram of ten resistance groups involved in the uprising

Resistance fighter crossing over the border fence on a paraglider, 7 October 2023.

The 2023 Israel-Gaza War is an ongoing war and genocide of the Palestinian population in Gaza.

Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa

The Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa (Arabic: Tufan Al-Aqsa, طوفان الأقصى) was a major, unprecedented incursion into occupied Palestine conducted by the Palestinian resistance operating out of Gaza, beginning 7 October 2023.

On 28 October, the united resistance groups released a statement from Beirut, Lebanon saying that, "This heroic epic is the battle of the entire Palestinian people, which they are waging in defense of their land, their sanctities, their existence, and their right to freedom, against a barbaric enemy that does not spare any of our people from its crimes. It targets hospitals, mosques, churches, universities, and ambulances, and cuts off electricity, water, fuel, the Internet, and cellular communications for our besieged people."

Background

See main article: Palestinian genocide

After, Hamas won the 2006 election in Gaza, the USA and the Zionist Entity sanctioned Gaza and tried to overthrow Hamas in 2008.

In 2018, during the Great March of Return, Zionist snipers shot at unarmed Palestinian protestors, killing 223 and wounding several thousand.

Timeline of events

Palestinian counteroffensive

Resistance fighters driving motorcycles through the border fence, 7 October 2023

Gaza after the Zionist bombings

On Saturday morning, 7 October 2023, the joint Palestinian resistance in Gaza (Hamas, PFLP, DFLP, Islamic Jihad) started firing rockets at the illegal settlements outside of Gaza. The Iron Dome, the Zionist Entity's anti-missile defense system, failed to intercept more rockets than usual. Rocket fire continued to support the operation the entire day, with the resistance reporting that they fired more than 5,000 rockets by noon alone.

At the same time, resistance units penetrated through the border fence surrounding the Gaza strip. Methods to get through the fence included the use of paragliders. In a video, a hole can be seen cut in the fence with motorcycle units being conveyed through.

Afterwards, the resistance units moved into several settlements surrounding the Gaza strip, including Asqalan (Ashkelon), Erez and Sderot. Up to 15 settlements have reportedly been taken over.

The units quickly moved to neutralize the IOF presence in these towns, including rapid incursions into barracks, where most occupation soldiers were taken out before they even realized what was happening.

Videos on social media show Palestinian fighters walking freely through the streets of liberated towns, indicating they were successfully taken over and all occupation driven out in some way.

In response, the occupier has called on the reservists and declared a state of war, but did not name the recipient of that declaration. The occupier also ordered air strikes over Gaza in retaliation, which is considered a war crime as it is collective punishment. Under international law, the Zionist Entity is considered an occupier and may not attack into Gaza but only defend against operations.

Clashes continued between the resistance and the occupation army for the rest of the day and into the night, but the bulk of the operation (as extrapolated from videos released by the resistance) happened in the early morning.

On the morning of 8 October 2023, it was reported that Hezbollah in Lebanon had attacked military positions and settlements in the north of occupied Palestine, notably striking at a radar station in support of the Palestinian resistance. Clashes followed on both sides of the border during the day. In response, the occupier diverted troops to the border with Lebanon in preparation for an incursion from Hezbollah.

On the night of the same day, "Israel" requested US help as they were completely overwhelmed by the operation. In response, the United States diverted one of their aircraft carriers towards Palestine.

By 9 October, it was reported by various sources that the resistance was able to move so far east that they were only 10 kilometers away from the West Bank. However, these reports are not yet entirely confirmed and it is important to note that in guerrilla operations such as this one, territory is often exchanged as the point is not to hold on to it but traverse it as needed.

It seems the taking of hostages and elimination of military assets were the main objective of the operation as by 10 October, resistance groups had gone back to Gaza, from where they endured the response of the Zionist entity for over a week.

Zionist genocide on Gaza

On 11 October, "Israel" cut off the water supply and electricity to Gaza. Following that announcement, they announced they would cut the Internet on 14 October, thereby preventing Palestinians from relaying stories and videos of the massacre they have been experiencing since 8 October to the world.

On 12 October, "Israel" dropped leaflets over Gaza to make Palestinians aware of a humanitarian corridor (a route that would supposedly not be targeted by bombs so that civilians can safely leave) to Egypt. Several hundred civilians took this road, only to be bombed by the occupier once they were all congregated in the same area. The following day, the occupier tried the same tactic again, giving the 1.1 million Palestinians living in the north of Gaza 24 hours to move south. This constitutes forcible population displacement, and is simply impossible logistically in such a small time frame.

Since 14 October, the Zionist entity has been going back and forth on a possible land invasion of Gaza, reminiscent of the ones that happened in 2005 and 2014. Hezbollah has announced they would invade "Israel" if an invasion happened, and Iran announced a "surprise" would await the Zionist entity if it tried to invade Gaza, but without giving more details.

On October 17th, "Israel" bombed the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of people (the hospital's cancer treatment center had also been bombed by "Israel” three days prior). Quickly, media sources were forced to retract confirmation of “Israel’s” guilt due to their subsequent denial. The same day, the official Israeli Twitter account posted a video which allegedly confirmed their narrative, only to delete it shortly after, since the timestamp of the video was a half hour before the hospital exploded. "Israel" also claimed to have intercepted a Hamas audio recording where it was admitted that the PIJ was responsible, however, United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4 News reported that sound analysis showed the two voices had been recorded independently and edited together. On October 22nd, the analysis of a group called "GeoConfirmed," initially cited as proof "Israel's" innocence, was retracted upon being disproven. It is also worth noting that "Israel" has a history of falsely attributing their attacks to the "Islamic Jihad."

On October 31st and November 1st, "Israel" conducted air raids across the Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least fifty people, but with no confirmed death count.

On 6 May 2024, the Zionists invaded Rafah. On 14 May, they entered the city proper, advancing into the Brazil, Jneina and al-Salam neighborhoods of eastern Rafah. Israel and Hamas intensified clashes, with Hamas claiming to have destroyed an IDF troop carrier in al-Salam, resulting in casualties. The IDF stated that it had killed militants around the Rafah Crossing and eastern Rafah, and destroyed a missile launching site.

Israel massacred more than 275 Palestinian civilians in the Nuiserat refugee camp to get back 4 POWs.

As of June 2024, the IOF has murdered at least 37 thousand Palestinians in Gaza, along with almost a half thousand more in the West Bank.

Ceasefire

In late November, the resistance achieved a four-day ceasefire and freed 150 political prisoners from Zionist imprisonment. The ceasefire was later extended to seven days.

Results

This event is still ongoing.

"Israeli" public broadcaster Kan News said that the operation came as a complete surprise to the IOF.

Media initially reported that over 35 prisoners of war had been captured by the resistance, with videos shared on social media showing some of them being taken back to Gaza. The final number of prisoners was later brought up to over 150.

Prisoners were mainly IOF soldiers of varying grades and notably include Brigadier-General Nimrod Aloni, who was the architect of the bombing campaigns against Gaza.

At the same time, settlers were filmed scrambling to leave. According to Mango Press, an estimated 1 million settlers are preparing to leave the country, with many still waiting at airports into the night of 7 October.

Gaza resistance groups also indicated they had seized military equipment, including vehicles, from the barracks.

With IOF presence removed from the fence keeping Gaza locked in, Palestinians started destroying sections of it with bulldozers.

Per the Zionist Entity, 1,200 people on the side of the entity were killed. Not all of these people were killed by Palestinian forces however, as due to the IDF's Hannibal Directive the prisoners of war were explicitly targeted by the occupation forces.

The provisional death toll for Palestine currently amounts to at least 7,028 martyrs in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Most of them were killed by indiscriminate bombing by the Zionist Entity which has been going on almost nonstop since 8 October as illegal retaliation and a form of collective punishment from "Israel" on the civilians of Gaza. The relentless bombing has also already made several victims in the occupier's own population detained as prisoners in Gaza.

Media response

Bourgeois media uses different wording when reporting deaths on opposing sides.

Within hours from the beginning of the operation, the mainstream media in conjunction with the Zionist government launched a massive atrocity propaganda campaign to attribute a number of fabricated crimes to the Resistance fighters.

A Grayzone investigation uncovered that the claim had originated from an IOF reserve soldier who was described as "a fanatical settler leader who incited riots by demanding a Palestinian town be 'wiped out.'"

It should be noted that for the entirety of its history, the Palestinian resistance has never been proven to have committed sexual assault and carried out beheadings or even wanton executions against civilian populations or even IOF soldiers. One interview conducted by an "Israeli" news station with a woman who had an encounter with Hamas soldiers during the operation related that she and her family were not harmed in any way by Hamas in their two hours of contact before the fighters left. In another interview conducted on 13 October, the interviewee revealed she had been released from Gaza alongside her neighbor's children and that a separate group of resistance fighters who saw them as they walked back home made no attempts to restrict their movement or harass them. She also stated that when was initially taken, she was given time to put on clothes as a sign of respect. She was just one of several groups of women and children released by the Resistance fighters. Hamas also released a compilation of videos showing their fighters treating "Israeli" children kindly during the operation, with one child even smiling while talking to the fighter. On 15 October, yet another interview of an "Israeli", Yasmin Porat by Haboker Hazeh (“This Morning”), provided another example of the Resistance fighters' humane treatment of the captives. Telling the Zionist radio station, that “They did not abuse us. They treated us very humanely,”. She instead blamed the IOF's callous conduct for the deaths of her fellow captives, having arrived with a hail of gunfire and mortal shells, and even firing 2 tank shells into the house where the captives had been held.

On 13 October, Reuters announced that one of their own journalist, Issam Abdallah, had been killed in Lebanon but cynically did not dare name "Israel" as his killer. On the same date, the Huffpost revealed that the US State Department had sent internal messages discouraging its diplomats from utilizing language urging cessation of hostilities. High level officials did not want such phrases as “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm," to be used, showing that the country had little desire to restrain the Zionist Entity and instead providing the space and time for it's crimes.

In one instance Isaac Herzog, President of the Zionist Entity, deemed all citizens of Gaza to be collectively responsible for the attacks the Palestinian Resistance carried out against the Occupation. Danny Ayalon, former deputy foreign minister and current foreign policy adviser for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, echoed proposed to ethnically cleanse Gaza by deporting all its residents to the Sinai desert. Similarly, the Financial Times reported that EU diplomats, much like the Statesians, also realize the impending ethnic cleansing about to take place in Occupied Palestine at the hands of the Zionist Entity, and are worried that presence of high level Statesian and EU officials, such as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen showing support for "Israel" will destroy the credibility of the Imperial Cores in Global South countries.

On 14 October, CGTN correspondent in central Gaza Noor Harazeen reported the IOF bombardment of central and southern Gaza resulting in numerous civilian casualties, despite the IOF falsely claiming to limit their military action to the north. In a similar vein, the BBC also reported after multiple videos emerged that convoys of civilians fleeing northern Gaza en route to the south were assaulted by the IOF despite assurances made of safe passage. In one instance, at least 12 people were shown deceased, mostly women and children, "some of whom appear to be as young as two to five years old." The Associated Press also confirmed that strikes on the humanitarian corridor had happened.

Atrocity propaganda

Western newspapers falsely claiming that Hamas killed babies

Zionist media alleged that Hamas, the foremost member group of the Resistance, fired unprovoked into a crowd of civilians holding a rave party a mere two miles away (3.2km) from Gaza. However, recordings have emerged showing that the Zionist Entity's police force and other armed personal were shooting at Hamas from within the crowd and the presence of what looks to be a Merkava tank.

Beheading

An even more grievous example of the atrocity propaganda on display was the claim that Hamas had indiscriminately and bloodily murdered anyone in their path, with some outlets such as The West Australian or i24 News, who broke the "story", going as far as to claim that IOF soldiers had seen "beheaded mothers and babies [by Hamas]"—only to be contradicted by an official statement from the IOF itself. US President Biden amplified the claim in a press statement made at the White House, claiming that he had seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children", even after the IOF had denied the claims. Shortly after Biden's statement, a White House spokesperson retracted Biden's statement, revealing that nobody had actually seen such pictures or confirmed the reports.

Other Western media outlets, including CNN, Fox News, and The New York Post, repeated i24 News's claim that Hamas beheaded 40 babies. The only source for the claim was David Ben Zion, who incited race riots against Palestinians and called them "animals."

Rape

At the same time, imperialist propagandists blamed Palestinians for the attack, furthermore alleging that Hamas had engaged in mass rape before the lack of evidence forced some media outlets into retracting parts of their claim. A specific claim of rape and murder concerned a German-"Israeli" national by the name of Shani Louk, who was present at the rave and was allegedly seen in a video being transported in the back of a pickup truck. It was later revealed by her own mother that she was still alive and being treated at a hospital in Gaza.

The main source for these allegations the Israeli Minister of Women's Empowerment, May Golan, who is openly "proud to be a racist" and led anti-Black race riots in Tel Aviv.

Further reading

• Palestinian resistance reading list
• Our Narrative...Operation Al-Aqsa Flood'