On May 18, Israel launched its most brutal and devastating offense in its 17-month war against the Palestinian people. Earlier in the month, the Israeli cabinet unanimously approved an expansion of the offensive into a full military occupation.

This is, without a doubt, not just a new stage of the war but a concrete and bloody turning point. It’s a deeply unstable situation, raising the threat of mass expulsion.

Protests erupted globally, including in Egypt, Qatar, the Netherlands, Germany, and other countries, seeing thousands or more in the streets. Nakba Day in particular marked explosive protests which broke out across London, Berlin, Rome, and throughout India despite repression from the state—particularly in Germany where protests turned violent with police attacking participants. Demands centered on ending arms shipments to Israel, an immediate end to the genocide, for immediate aid, the arrest of Netanyahu and his cabinet for their war crimes, and for the creation of an independent and fully recognized Palestinian state.

Crisis of hunger & starvation

The Israeli regime openly said it was halting humanitarian aid into Gaza until their demands are met, inflicting horrendous collective punishment on the civilian population. It only recently allowed limited aid to enter after mounting international pressure. More than 2 million people, which represents virtually the entire population, are facing severe food shortages. Malnutrition is especially affecting children, pregnant women, and those with chronic conditions. It was reported that 29 infants and elderly died from starvation-related causes in just two days.

At the time of writing, over 53,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza and at least 120,000 have been wounded since October 7. Per a recent report, the war has also killed 232 journalists, making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded. As of March, the Israeli military has carried out at least 670 attacks on healthcare services and facilities, and over 1,000 healthcare workers have died. As of May 18, all public hospitals in northern Gaza are out of service after intense military bombings.

Hamas also lost its grip on Gaza, though it is trying to reassert its authority by executing alleged criminals such as gang leaders. Living under the hellfire of the Israeli war machine, many Gazans have openly expressed their anger with Hamas and went as far as staging protests for Hamas’s role in the October 7th attack and their oppression of Palestinians civilians. Protestors called for an end to the war, as well as an end to Hamas’s rule in Gaza, chanting “Out, out, Hamas out.”

Trump on Gaza

At the beginning of Trump’s second term, he met with Netanyahu and posed, before international media, the idea of turning Gaza into a new Trump resort. Soon after, he shared an AI-generated video showing himself and his cronies in a repurposed Gaza Strip-turned-beachfront oasis.

In a more recent meeting, Netanyahu raised this expulsion again, seemingly to gauge Trump’s thoughts ahead of the cabinet decision. He proposed that Israel facilitates the “voluntary” migration of Palestinians, in essence proposing concentration camps and ramped up ethnic cleansing.

Netanyahu plans to move Gazans back south and set up hubs where private contractors would oversee distribution of aid with help from the US. At the time of writing, some 200 aid groups and the UN refuse to take part in this, seeing it as aiding and abetting the Israeli government in their genocidal war.

Trump is fully backing Netanyahu, despite some indications of disagreements around the future of the war. Trump is actively making efforts to consolidate US imperialism’s relationship with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, with the hopes of reaching a deal with Iran. It is notable that Netanyahu has expressed discomfort with the Iran deal and that Trump didn’t make a stop in Israel during his Middle East tour—further showing the cracks in the relationship. 

End of ceasefire ramps up protests

There has been a revamping of protests in the US as well. At Columbia University, Yale, and CUNY campuses, organizing has re-emerged, with nearly eighty students arrested by the NYPD at a recent Columbia demonstration. Multiple college graduations across the country have been interrupted by protests as well.

Members of Socialist Alternative in New Haven helped lead protests at Yale against Israeli far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir when he visited the university. As our member, Sammy Albright, said in his speech at this protest, “we need to leverage our power as students and workers to shut down the capitalist system and these war criminals that prop it up.” 

Socialists reject acts of individual terrorism, such as the shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C in late May. Acts of individual desperation run contrary to the urgent need to build the sort of mass collective movement, based on protests and labor action, required to end the war and win Palestinian liberation. These actions only lead to increased sympathy and attention towards the Israeli state and provide momentum for harsher state crackdown on the movement, both in the US and abroad. Right-wing circles have since called to turn the justified slogan “Free Palestine” into an official terrorist slogan.

A May 9 study showed that 61% of Israelis support ending the war and bringing back all hostages with only 25% favoring expansion of the war. Protests broke out across major cities in the wake of the broken ceasefire. In fact, since March, Israel has seen some of its largest protests since the start of the war. Anti-war activist Ami Dror, said, “Those in power can say whatever they want. But we have tools. We have marches, protests, and also civil disobedience—when we decide to shut the state down—and that’s exactly what needs to happen.”

Members of Socialist Alternative’s sister organization in Israel-Palestine, Socialist Struggle, have been taking part in many protests across the country, on the streets and in university campuses, with demands such as “Shut down the campus and the economy—End the war of extermination.” Universities have been partially shut down at times, with hundreds of students and staff protesting.

Expanding the war is projected to cost over $4B and will require a new round of austerity. It also necessitates the recruitment of tens of thousands of reserve soldiers, many of whom suffer from fatigue, demoralization, and PTSD. This, alongside a protest letter from former Israeli Air Force members signed by thousands, shows this continued national rift.

What next?

We continue to stand in utmost solidarity with the two million residents of Gaza surviving under nonstop murderous bombardment as well as with the families of the hostages, who have been sacrificed by their government in favor of maintaining unpopular control. We also stand with all civilians on all sides of the fence in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, inside the Green Line, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and across the region—all of whom are facing yet another wave of massacres, oppression, and imperialist aggression.

Rather than wrap themselves up in pro-imperialist nationalism, we call on unions to fight for an end to US military aid to Israel and to instead redirect those billions of dollars to a green union jobs program, free universal healthcare, free public college for all, and high-quality social housing. Military jobs should be retooled to build and expand high-quality public transportation, run on union jobs.

This occupation and war is a key part of the oppression that the global capitalist system relies on. To fight it, we need an international movement of working people to struggle against all imperialism and an end to capitalism with continued protests, occupations of public buildings, and escalating action. Ultimately, an international revolutionary socialist movement will be necessary to consign this barbaric system to history once and for all.