Read and share this fact sheet about the recent assault on Gaza Dear Email,
Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, which killed at least 45 Palestinians, including 16 children, and wounded more than 350 civilians, did not happen in a vacuum. Here is some context that you should keep in mind:  Israel is the occupier and oppressor: Gaza has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, and has been placing Gaza under an illegal and suffocating siege for over 15 years. This siege has brought endless misery and death to Gaza, and has been condemned by the UN and by international, Palestinian, and Israeli human rights organizations.
This is not the first time Israel bombs Gaza: Prior to the latest Israeli assault, Israel had waged four major military attacks on Gaza since the siege was imposed. Israel has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians, including hundreds of children, in these attacks on Gaza, in large and indiscriminate bombings of residential areas that human rights organizations have described as war crimes. Ongoing Violence of Occupation: Before its latest assault on Gaza, Israel killed more than 60 Palestinians just this year alone, including children, and two US citizens. One of the US citizens was renowned journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was gunned down by an Israeli sniper in the occupied West Bank. Israel also destroyed more than 280 Palestinian homes.
Israel’s Unprovoked Aggression in Gaza: Several days before it attacked Gaza, Israel arrested a leader in the Islamic Jihad faction in the occupied city of Jenin in the West Bank, then it shut down all crossings in and out of Gaza, and cut off the entry of fuel into the Strip. This followed weeks of escalating Israeli violence in the West Bank which included ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, and the killing of Palestinians. Even though there was no Palestinian response to these provocations, Israel launched an attack on a residential area in Gaza, killing another leader with Islamic Jihad and several Palestinian civilians, including a 5-year-old girl. In other words, what happened in Gaza was an act of unprovoked Israeli aggression.
The “Human Shields” Lie: Israeli officials have been falsely claiming that Palestinian militants hide behind Palestinian children. While militants in the besieged and densely populated Gaza strip do operate in civilian areas, there is no evidence that they have ever used civilians as human shields. By contrast, official Israeli military policy had sanctioned the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields during military operations in the Palestinian territories for many years. When the Israeli Supreme Court finally decided to ban this monstrous policy, the Israeli military and defense minister tried to appeal the ruling. Despite the formal ban on the use of human shields, the Israeli military is documented by rights groups to have continued using Palestinian civilians, including children, as human shields.
Ceasefire Doesn’t Solve the Problem: Achieving a ceasefire is a positive step because it puts an end to the large-scale killing of innocent people. However, a ceasefire that doesn’t deal with the underlying problems of Israeli siege and occupation only returns us to a status quo that is untenable, where Palestinians are denied freedom and live in squalor under Israeli control. We must be demanding accountability for the crimes Israel committed, and an immediate end to Israel’s illegal siege and occupation, so that Palestinians can be free. Share the graphic on Facebook and Instagram |
