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Gaza: From Open Air Prison to Concentration Camp? 

New, Even More Barbaric Stage of Israel’s Genocide—Accelerated by Trump Fascism 

Displaced Palestinians flee from Shijaiyah, Gaza, on April 3, 2025 following evacuation orders.

 

Palestinians flee from Shijaiyah, Gaza, on April 3, 2025 after Israel issued evacuation orders.    Photo: AP/Jehad Alshrafi

Developments this past week point to an even more murderous, barbaric stage in Israel’s Gaza genocide. Under the banner of eliminating the Islamic fundamentalist organization Hamas,1 Israel—with U.S. backing—is trying to make it impossible for the Palestinian people to survive as a people on their historic homeland. We detail some of these ways below. 

Ominously, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (aka Netan-Nazi) is due to meet with Trump on Monday, a meeting which could further accelerate these atrocities.

Dividing Up Gaza, Seizing More Land, Unleashing More Attacks: Netanyahu has announced a new strategy of dividing up Gaza, seizing more land, and permanently occupying parts of Gaza.2 Over half of Gaza is off limits for Palestinians, and now Israel is escalating its air and ground attacks, and issuing new evacuation orders, forcibly clearing and displacing hundreds of thousands. Netanyahu claims this is the “final stage” of his Gaza campaign, which has the backing of the U.S.—“the greatest superpower in the world.” This includes permanent Israeli military control of Gaza and the “voluntary migration”—in other words forced expulsion—of Palestinians (see “Implementing Trump's Lunatic Plan for Forced Displacement from Gaza”). “We will implement the Trump Plan,” Netanyahu said. “This is our strategy.”

A Campaign of Massacres: On Sunday, March 30, Israeli attacks killed more than 60 Palestinians. Dozens more were killed the next day, many of them children. During the 24 hours from Monday into Tuesday, 42 more were killed and 180 injured. On Wednesday, a wave of missile and artillery attacks killed at least 56 people; 19 of them were massacred in a strike on a United Nations clinic. The next day, April 3, more than 112 Palestinians were slaughtered as Israeli missiles hit three different schools, including Dar al-Arqam School in Gaza City. There 29 were killed, including 18 children, 100 others were injured, and many others were buried in the rubble. On Friday the 4th, 60 more were killed, including 16 from one family. 

The bombing was so intense that people were literally thrown high into the air by the blast. More than 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the collapse of the ceasefire on March 18 and more than 61,700 Palestinians are confirmed dead and 114,638 wounded since Israel began its Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023.3

Palestine, Israel, U.S. Imperialism and Revolution

 

Tightening the Noose of Starvation: Israel’s total blockade of food, water, medicine, and incoming goods forced the United Nations to close down its 25 bakeries this week. These bakeries helped feed 70 percent of Gaza’s people. Their closure intensifies hunger and the growing danger of starvation. More than 90 percent of the population doesn’t have enough food, yet Israel cold-bloodedly declares there’s plenty in Gaza. 

On top of this, Gaza City announced a disruption in water supply from the Israeli company providing around 70 percent of the water consumed in the city and surrounding refugee camps. Human Rights Watch has charged Israel is committing genocidal acts by cutting off the supply of drinking water to Gaza.

Is Gaza Being Turned from an Open Air Prison to a Concentration Camp? 

The Israeli magazine +972 analyzes these latest developments this way: “Unable to immediately expel Gazans en masse, Israel is preparing to forcibly displace the entire population of Gaza—through a combination of evacuation orders and intense bombardment—into an enclosed and possibly fenced-off area, and letting starvation and desperation do the rest. Without mincing words … this latest vision can be summed up in just two words: concentration camp.”

Three Questions Everyone in the U.S. Must Ask Themselves

As we wrote last week:

This is hard to take in: children [and thousands of other human beings] are being systematically slaughtered in your name with funds and diplomatic support provided by your government. With the ascension of the fascist Trump regime to power, the horror is being taken to a whole other level. There are three questions every decent person, every person with a shred of conscience living in this country, must answer: 

  • how can this be stopped, as soon as possible;
  • what gave rise to this; and
  • what can put an end to this and countless other horrors and atrocities?
WE DECLARE AND DEMAND: The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished And Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA.

 

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FOOTNOTES:

1.  On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out an attack in Israel that included killing over 1,200 people—mainly civilians—and taking some 250 hostages. Targeting civilians is a war crime and this attack was an expression of Hamas’ reactionary program and outlook, but this in no way justifies Israel’s far greater crimes and atrocities.  [back]

2.  Israel has already taken some 17 percent of Gaza’s land and is now taking more, including creating a new “Philadelphi corridor” bisecting southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis, in addition to its Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.  [back]

3.  The Gaza Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead. Others estimate the actual casualty total at near double these numbers.  [back]

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