The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) condemns, in the strongest terms, Israel’s continued genocidal assault on Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s Occupation Forces have killed at least 436 Palestinians, including 183 children, since it broke the so-called ceasefire on Tuesday.
This violence is also compounded by Israeli Prime Minister and accused war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning that Occupation Forces could fight a “larger and stronger front” in the West Bank, signalling a terrifying and unmitigated expansion of its genocide.
In Gaza, Israeli forces have dropped leaflets over Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and eastern Khan Younis, forcibly displacing thousands of Palestinian residents from their homes and shelters as indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes continue to devastate entire neighbourhoods.
Families are fleeing, but there is no safe place to go. UN humanitarian agencies have reported that many have sought shelter in overcrowded schools run by UNRWA or in open areas, while others are searching for safety in increasingly dangerous locations along Gaza’s coast.
The terror Israel is raining upon Gaza, and the human toll of its massacres, is staggering. In southern Gaza, a local journalist has reported a pregnant mother and her unborn child were killed in a tent in Khan Younis, and at least eight other people killed in separate Israeli attacks across the city.
Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, with children undergoing amputations without anaesthesia, due Israel’s blockade on humanitarian and medical resources.
This complete blockade of Gaza, now in its 18th day, has severely disrupted efforts to ensure access to food, potable water, clothing and medical supplies, all of which are now in short supply. Community kitchens providing cooked meals have also been forced to shut down.
The population of Gaza is being pushed beyond the brink of catastrophe.
Israel’s attacks are not simply “military operations,” as reported by elements of the mainstream media. They constitute a systematic campaign of genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.
The international community must urgently demand an end to this genocide, open the borders for humanitarian aid, and hold Israel accountable via the international courts for its war crimes.
What we are witnessing today is an existential threat to Palestinian lives that demands that the Australian government show moral fortitude in standing up to the genocidal aggressor, Israel.
In this time of crisis and unimaginable sorrow, APAN stands in unwavering solidarity with the people of Gaza and the West Bank in their resistance and struggle for freedom, justice and dignity.
Australia must act now to end Israel’s genocide, occupation and apartheid.