By Shahrokh Saei

Barbaric bloodshed: Gaza death toll crosses 43,000

October 28, 2024 - 19:45

TEHRAN- Israel has created a doomsday scenario in northern Gaza after launching a new offensive in the area nearly a month ago.

The offensive characterized by mass killings, a siege and a starvation campaign began on October 6. The military operation has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. 

The Israeli air and ground assaults have almost leveled the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. 

Many people remain trapped under the debris of destroyed buildings as civil defense teams have been barred by the Israeli forces from operating in the north.

The regime has also obstructed the delivery of food and other essentials to northern Gaza. It has issued evacuation orders for Palestinians, yet soldiers open fire on some of those who attempt to leave. 

Meanwhile, medical facilities such as Kamal Adwan Hospital have been repeatedly bombed and stormed by Israeli forces. 

Israel has butchered more than 1,000 Palestinians in northern Gaza in the last 25 days.The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday that Israel has “arrested and deported all the medical staff” at Kamal Adwan Hospital except one pediatrician.

The ministry “appealed to international institutions to quickly send surgical medical teams to the hospital.” 

It called on anyone with surgical skills to assist at Kamal Adwan Hospital to “save as many wounded and sick as possible”.

Israel’s raids against the hospital have killed patients, including children and newborns over the past three weeks. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed horror at the situation in northern Gaza.

"The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in North Gaza is unbearable," Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Sunday. 

He added, "The Secretary-General is shocked by the harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction in the north, with civilians trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded going without life-saving health care, and families lacking food and shelter."

Israel seeks to make the whole northern Gaza uninhabitable by targeting the few remaining residential buildings, public facilities and evacuation centers. The main aim is to prevent people from coming back to the area.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to develop its nefarious schemes through the forcible displacement of Palestinians. 

The recent remarks made by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have clearly illustrated such schemes.

Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem (al-Quds) on Sunday, Smotrich called for forcibly displacing Palestinians to Arab countries. 

“Those who do not want or are unable to put aside their national ambitions will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the many Arab countries where the Arabs can realize their national ambitions, or to any other destination in the world.”

His words clearly indicate that Israel is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. 

Since the early stages of the Gaza war, Israel has been attempting to evacuate Gaza’s 2.3 million population to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.  

Israel has butchered more than 43,000 Palestinians and injured over 101,000 others since declaring war on Gaza on October 7, 2023. 

The Netanyahu regime, however, has failed to bring the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement to its knees. 

The slaughter of defenseless Palestinian people is Israel’s sole achievement since the start of the conflict. 

Amid the inaction of Western and Arab countries, the Israeli carnage in Gaza goes unchecked.

Certain Arab states have either openly or secretly normalized ties with Israel.  These states only pay lip service in an attempt to cover up domestic resentment against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

Palestinians feel they have been betrayed by Arab countries. However, the strong resistance demonstrated by Palestinians has served as a barrier to Israel's ethnic cleansing plan in the Gaza Strip.