The United States, a leading instigator and supporter of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, has once again publicly rebuked global calls for an end to the war.
At a news briefing Friday, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked to comment on Friday’s overwhelming 140-15 vote in the United Nations General Assembly in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We do not believe that a ceasefire is the right answer right now,” Kirby said. “We believe that a ceasefire right now benefits Hamas, and Hamas is the only one that would gain from that right now.”
Kirby reiterated the talking points of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vocally condemned all those both within Israel and worldwide who are calling for an end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
“Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism,” Netanyahu told reporters, vowing, “That will not happen.” He continued, “Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7.”
Netanyahu referred to the Palestinians as “the forces of barbarism,” adding, “If Hamas and Iran’s axis of evil wins, you will be their next target,” referring to Israel’s imperialist allies. Netanyahu asked if “the civilized world [is] ready to fight the barbarians,” saying that Israel’s opponents want to “usher in a world of fear and darkness,” calling them the enemies of civilization.
Kirby and Netanyahu made these statements as Israeli tanks and soldiers pushed further toward Gaza City, with video showing Israeli troops shooting indiscriminately at civilian vehicles. Israeli ground troops entered Gaza last week and have steadily moved to encircle Gaza City from multiple directions. Israel has blocked food, water, and fuel from entering into the enclave of two million people and is only allowing in a trickle of assistance to flow in from Egypt.
The advancing troops were accompanied by a relentless bombing campaign that continues to kill hundreds of Palestinians every single day. Between October 28 and 29, 302 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The death toll has soared to over 8,000, of whom 67 percent are women and children. Nearly three-quarters of the population of Gaza, or 1.4 million people, have been internally displaced. Throughout the country, UN refugee facilities reported that they are at three times their intended capacity.
The massacre of Palestinians in Gaza is accompanied by a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, whose activities are given quasi-official sanction by the Israeli government. According to the United Nations, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in the West Bank over the past three weeks. Another 121 Palestinians in the West Bank were displaced after Israeli forces demolished their homes. At least seven Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli settlers since October 7, and more than 100 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli police and military forces over the same time period.
As Israel’s onslaught against both Gaza and the West Bank continues, it is becoming increasingly impossible to deny that the Netanyahu government has seized upon the events of October 7 to initiate a campaign of ethnic cleansing. In remarks on Monday, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, stated bluntly at the United Nations, “What happened and continues to happen is forced displacement.
“Civilians remaining in the north are receiving evacuation notices from the Israeli forces, urging them south to receive scarce humanitarian assistance,” he said. “But many, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, the sick and the wounded, are unable to move.” He added, “Hunger and despair are turning into anger against the international community.”
On Monday, the Financial Times reported that the Israeli government is seeking to relocate Palestinians into Egypt’s Sinai Desert. In an article entitled, “Netanyahu lobbied EU to pressure Egypt into accepting Gaza refugees,” the FT wrote, “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to convince European leaders to put pressure on Egypt into accepting refugees from Gaza.” The FT quoted a Western diplomat as saying, “Netanyahu pushed quite hard that the solution was for Egyptians to take Gazans at least during the conflict.”
The FT quoted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as saying Egypt “rejects ‘any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, which would come at the expense of the countries of the region’.” The plans by Netanyahu are consistent with a leaked proposal from Israel’s intelligence ministry calling for the population of Gaza to be relocated to tent cities in the northern Sinai desert and not to allow the population to return.
Amid the escalating ground invasion, Israel is intensifying its bombardment of hospitals throughout Gaza. In its daily update on the situation in Gaza, the United Nations wrote, “Over the weekend, the vicinities of Shifa and Al Quds hospitals in Gaza City and of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza were reportedly bombarded, causing damage. This followed renewed calls by the Israeli military to evacuate these facilities immediately. All 13 hospitals still operational in Gaza City and northern Gaza have received repeated evacuation orders in recent days.”
On Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that Israel threatened to bomb the Al Quds hospital, where 14,000 people are sheltering. The UN also reported, “The Turkish Friendship Hospital, which treats cancer patients in Gaza, was severely damaged by intense bombing in its vicinity. The bombing caused several injuries.”
In his remarks to the UN Security Council Monday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini said, “More than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day.
“Save the Children reported yesterday that nearly 3,200 children were killed in Gaza in just three weeks. This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019,” Lazzarini said.