On Sunday, March 2, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to halt all humanitarian relief coming into Gaza. 

This is an outrageous violation of the ceasefire agreement it signed with Hamas (see below), as well as being the war crime and crime against humanity of using starvation as a weapon of war—ceasefire or no ceasefire. 

And that’s not all. Israel’s March 2 statement declared it could unilaterally break the agreement and restart its assault on Gaza “if it gains the impression that the negotiations have been ineffective.” (New York Times)

15 Months of Genocidal Slaughter  

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has pummeled the two million Palestinians in Gaza from the land, air and sea. More than 48,000 have been slaughtered, including more than 18,000 children, and more than 100,000 injured. Some 90 percent of the homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Israel has systematically targeted Gaza’s entire infrastructure—its hospitals, water and sewage systems, farms, bakeries, schools, universities, relief agencies and more. 

During the more than 15 months of fighting since October 2023, Israel has used starvation and disease as weapons of war, systematically blocking deliveries of food, water, medicine and other urgently needed goods.¹

These actions all constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity, and now Israel is once again denying the people of Gaza the basic necessities of life—again a war crime and crime against humanity. 

Israel Aims for “Final Solution” to the Palestinian “Problem”

Israel claims all this death and destruction is directed at Hamas, the reactionary Islamic fundamentalist organization that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, unjustly killing more than 1,000 Israelis—mainly civilians—and taking some 250 hostage. 

Yes, Israel is out to destroy Hamas and uproot its presence in Gaza (even though Israel, for its own reasons, helped bring Hamas to power in the first place). But that’s not its main objective. As Alan Goodman wrote at revcom.us: 

Israel seized on the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, to attempt a “final solution” (a term Hitler used to refer to the elimination of the Jewish people in Europe); that is, making it impossible for the Palestinian people to survive as a people in the historic homeland of Palestine—whether through mass murder, exile, imprisonment, even more brutal oppression… or all of the above. This has taken the form of some of the most horrific crimes in modern human history.

This towering, world-historic crime is now being backed in full and accelerated by Donald Trump and his MAGA fascist regime. And this makes the situation all the more fraught and dangerous, for the people of Palestine and the world.

The Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement—and Duplicitous U.S.-Israeli Moves to Destroy Palestine

Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement Israel signed with Hamas formally ended on the night of March 1. Under the agreement, negotiations for Phase 2 were to have already begun. This phase would negotiate a formal end to Israel’s assault, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza, and the return of all Israeli hostages—living and dead.²

The Netanyahu government went along with Phase 1 to some degree because of the enormous political pressure within Israel to focus on the return of the hostages being held by Hamas.

But Israel never fully adhered to its end of the deal. It didn’t allow key relief items such as tents and mobile homes to enter Gaza. (This week seven babies froze to death in Gaza due to the freezing cold and lack of adequate shelter.³) Israel refused to begin Phase 2 negotiations. It refused to start withdrawing its forces from the Philadelphi Corridor (separating Gaza and Egypt) on March 2 as promised, and it recently declared it never would. 

Now—with U.S. backing—Israel is attempting to rupture the whole framework of the ceasefire agreement by calling for a new deal. This one, reportedly proposed by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, would force Hamas to release half its remaining hostages immediately without any guarantee there would ever be serious negotiations to end Israel’s assault on Gaza and withdraw its forces. Hamas has already rejected the deal.⁴

Israel Never Abandoned Its Goal of Genocide in Gaza 

Israel has used the ceasefire to buy time, win the release of some Israeli hostages, and to appear—for international public opinion—interested in peace and a just solution in Gaza.  

Israel has never abandoned its overall goal of genocide in Gaza.⁵ And now Trump and his MAGA fascist regime are openly stoking the flames of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza—from Trump’s February 4 call for it, to his recent video celebrating it, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that the U.S. is sending Israel another $4 billion in military aid.⁶

There have been numerous reports that Israel’s military has been planning to restart the assault on Gaza, and now the Guardian is reporting that Israel has presented a plan to the UN for post-war Gaza that doesn't involve withdrawing from Gaza, but rather tightens its control. Aid officials said Israel’s plan “was presented as a fact, with Israeli officials claiming it had full U.S. support.” 

Itamar Ben-Gvir, powerful Israeli politician and former Minister of National Security, hailed Netanyahu’s March 2 aid cut-off and threats of renewed war:

“I welcome the decision to stop humanitarian aid if it is indeed implemented. Finally, the decision has been made—better late than never.… Now is the time to open the gates of hell, cut off electricity and water, resume the war, and most importantly—not settle for just half of the hostages. Instead, return to President Trump’s ultimatum: all the hostages immediately, or hell will be unleashed on Gaza.”⁷

The past week or so has seen the beginning revival of the movement against this oppression on campuses. What is urgently required now is broadening this movement to encompass all those opposed to the genocide and to the repression on the campuses… digging into and debating the real causes of it… and linking this powerfully to the overall struggle against the fascist Trump/MAGA regime now openly celebrating the possibility of “ethnically cleansing” Palestine of non-Jews.