Netanyahu and his Murderous Government Renew the Genocidal War—Hundreds Massacred in Gaza

Socialist Struggle Movement is Socialist Alternative’s sister-organization in Israel-Palestine.

Editors’ Note: this article was originally published by Socialist Struggle Movement on March 19th, a day after the fragile ceasefire was broken by the Israeli government. It is estimated that over 1,000 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military since it broke the ceasefire. Eighteen months into the war, the UN estimates that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now at its worst and the Israeli government refuses to pledge an end to the war. With changes taking place since, especially the major escalation of anti-democratic attacks on activists and protests in the U.S., we took it upon ourselves to make edits and additions to the original.

The Israeli government breaking the latest ceasefire has unleashed widespread slaughter in the Gaza Strip. Within a few hours, more than 400 people were killed in the hellfire on March 18. Entire families perished in the early morning. At least 63% of the victims were women, girls and children. The genocidal war has been renewed with the full backing of Trump, a scenario that we warned about in advance.

Solidarity with the two million residents of the Gaza Strip surviving under military bombardment. Most of them have been crowded into the tents of the displaced persons camps for a year and a half.
Solidarity with the families of the hostages, who are sacrificed by a government that again torpedoes a deal for their return.
Solidarity with civilians on all sides of the fence, in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, inside the Green Line, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the region in general—in the face of another intensified wave of massacres, oppression and imperialist aggression.

In a cynical and horrific manner, the Trump-Netanyahu gang presents the indiscriminate mass murder as a step designed to pressure the Hamas leadership to agree to the dictates of their governments. It’s unclear whether their plan is to continue and even intensify the offensive, and if the new bloody phase of the war will last for weeks or months.

The Regime’s Lies—Who Violated the Agreement?

“Israel deliberately violated the ceasefire agreement with Hamas on Tuesday night, with American approval, because it did not want to meet the full conditions it committed to two months ago. There is no other way to explain the decision to resume fighting in the Gaza Strip.” – the Israeli HaAretz newspaper.

The Israeli government did not meet any of its commitments under Phase Two of the ceasefire agreement. It torpedoed the negotiations and refused to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor in Southern Gaza. In order to force Hamas to unilaterally change the terms, the government systematically violated the ceasefire with daily attacks—bombings that killed dozens of people, preventing aid and food from entering Gaza, preventing access to drinking water, cutting off electricity to desalination plants, and preventing tens of thousands of wounded and critically ill people from leaving Gaza for treatment.

The Trump regime’s barbaric attack on Yemen is coordinated with the new massacre in Gaza. White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt clarified the direction of the Trump regime: “Hamas, the Houthis, and Iran—all those who seek to terrorize not only Israel, but also the United States—will pay a price.” The White House thug’s actions strengthen Netanyahu’s crisis-ridden government and increase the danger of multi-front military aggression by Israel backed by US imperialism.

The strategic goal of the Israeli government is to continue the direct occupation of the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future, in contradiction to its official statement of reaching a comprehensive deal.

Escalating The Struggle

Under heavy anti-democratic suppression, some protests have escalated around the world, including the US, with thousands protesting on April 5 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of Gazans have protested against the war and the deadend of the Hamas government. Hundreds of thousands marched in streets throughout Israel against Netanyahu’s far-right regime. Security forces snatched a Palestinian flag during a Bernie Sanders rally in Idaho, leading the crowd to chant “Free Palestine” while Bernie himself shamefully tried to calm them down.

We must clearly and loudly oppose the renewal of the war.

We call for mass protests against the war, the ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the settlements, racism, and the national oppression of the Palestinians. The attempts of the governments in Israel and the U.S. to crush democratic rights of antiwar activists need a mass response. Both governments, while deporting and imprisoning activists, are working to pass anti-worker budgets and crush social services. The trade unions—some of whom are seeing their own members being fired, imprisoned, and deported—need to step in and organize mass days of action together with the broader movement.

We demand:

Immediately return and reinstate all activists who have lost their jobs, been expelled from school, and lost their legal resident status!
End all attacks on democratic freedom of speech! Solidarity with Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Mahdawi, and all others retaliated against for standing up against imperialist murder!
Israeli military out of Gaza! End the war! Release all thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees imprisoned in the torture camps and prisons of the occupation and release all Israeli hostages.
Rebuild Gaza; welfare for everyone! Join us at the protests and continue the struggle!