TEHRAN – With Israel’s colossal intelligence defeat during the Hamas weekend attack on the occupied territories, the regime seems to be bent on giving what Netanyahu has touted as a “historic” response to the Palestinian resistance. Based on what’s currently unfolding in the Gaza strip, this could very much mean that a potential genocide of Gazans has been put on the table by Israeli leaders.

Israel is currently bombarding Gaza with no letup. The regime, which has imprisoned Gazans in the world’s largest open-air jail for the past 16 years, has tried to “clamp down on Hamas” by killing and maiming civilians, including women and children. Hospitals, mosques, residential buildings and schools have been reduced to rubble in cities that were once vibrant with crowds of impoverished, but high-spirited people. Now, citizens must scour through the ruins of what was once called home, in a bid to find their loved ones.

“A massacre was committed last night by the occupying Israeli regime against the Shaldan family in Gaza, brutally murdering 11 Palestinian civilians, with babies without heads pulled out from the rubble," a local told Palestinian media on Wednesday. So far, 1,055 Palestinians have been massacred with 250 children among the dead.

Those who manage to flee the barrage of Israeli fire coming down on them morning, evening, and night, still have to enter a race against time in order to survive. Israeli officials have ordered a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, not allowing electricity, water, food, and medicine inside the war-torn region.

If a Gazan gets lucky and manages to survive several days without food or water, he or she might still be left with life-threatening ailments caused by Israel’s use of prohibited munitions. Several videos circulating online suggest Israel might be using white phosphorus bombs, whose use in civilian areas is considered a war crime, to strike civilian sites in northern Gaza.

But the collective punishment against the Palestinian population seems to presage a bigger disaster. “We are fighting with human animals and we will act accordingly,” Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Sunday with no hint of shame or caution in his voice.

A report by the Tasnim news agency shows Israel might be preparing for not a partial massacre of Palestinians, but a full-on genocide. The regime is reportedly trying to cut off all sorts of communication in Gaza by targeting internet and telephone infrastructures before it launches a land offensive into the territory.

Despite all of the regime’s actions heralding a looming humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the self-appointed proponents of human rights have not only stayed silent on the horrifying crimes committed against Palestinians, but also helped spread misinformation about the resistance, all in Israel’s favor.

CNN, a leading flag-bearer of Washington’s propaganda campaigns, has been helping Israel pose as the victim in the ongoing conflict by releasing unfounded and unsupported reports of Hamas’ s alleged brutality in the battleground.

“Brutality of Hamas’ terror laid bare” are the first words readers laid eyes on when visiting the CNN website on Wednesday. The report focuses on the story of Israeli children who allegedly got beheaded by Hamas forces in an Israeli settlement. CNN draws a satanic picture of Hamas fighters by merely relying on quotations from Israeli soldiers. Some have drawn parallels with the babies that got removed from incubators by Saddam forces in Kuwait in the 1990s. CNN releases a report supported by no evidence while it chooses to ignore the harrowing images of the dead or wounded Palestinian children captured in Gaza almost every hour.

Another important piece of evidence CNN has decided to ignore is a female settler’s interview with Israeli media. The woman, whose home was raided by Hamas forces, has recounted her encounter with the Palestinian fighters in disbelief and awe; but not because she was assaulted. “The Hamas fighters entered my home. I said I have two children. One of them said ‘don’t worry we are Muslim. No one will hurt you’” the settler said, adding that one of the fighters asked for permission before he proceeded to eat a banana he took from the kitchen counter.

Western leaders have also expressed unequivocal support for Israel. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has even condemned demonstrators who took to the streets of Canada in support of Palestine.  “The glorification of death, and violence and terror has no place anywhere especially here in Canada,” said Trudeau while referring to Hamas as a terrorist organization and refusing to comment on the Palestinian lives that have so far been taken. Demonstrators in France were also attacked by security forces during their pro-Palestine rally.

Analysts believe Israel has decided to pursue a scorched-earth policy in its latest round of attacks against Gaza and the West is aiding the regime to the hilt.

A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that involves the decimation of anything that allows the enemy to wage a war. It includes cutting water and food, exterminating humans and animals, and destroying plants and any kind of infrastructure.   

Gaza might be wiped off the face of the earth through a second Holocaust and the West is helping that happen.

By Mona Hojat Ansari