"A Textbook Case of Genocide"

On Oct. 15, talk of a five-hour ceasefire was reported by multiple media outlets. The Israeli regime claimed the ceasefire would take place on Oct. 16, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m., to allow foreigners to evacuate and humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

About 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid lined up in Egypt at the Rafah border crossing, awaiting permission to enter. As soon as the clock struck 9 a.m., the ceasefire that the Israeli regime announced did not occur, and the border did not open. Reuters reports that “Israel was not cooperating with [the] delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders, leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck.”

Palestinian news outlet, Palestine Online tweeted that Benjamin Netanyahu retracted the plan, stating there is now “no agreement on a ceasefire or the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in exchange for the withdrawal of foreigners.”

Israel also bombed the Rafah border crossing a fourth time since the genocide unfolded.

Western news outlets barely reported on the canceled ceasefire and the bombing of the Rafah border crossing. Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan, who is in Gaza, tweeted: “Not a single item entered Gaza until now. All the news about humanitarian aid on its way to the Gaza Strip is false. The borders are still closed until [this] moment. We need water, fuel, medicine, food, clothes.”

The combination of the Israeli-imposed siege, the bombardment, and the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has wiped out any supplies Gazans had access to. Even the remaining UNRWA humanitarian aid that was already within Gaza’s warehouses was bombed by the IOF. The UNRWA released a statement that Gaza is “running out of body bags,” while the number of Palestinians Israel is killing continues to rise. Similarly, hospital morgues are at full capacity, forcing hospital staff to use ice cream trucks — as they did in the 2014 war.

In an interview with Democracy Now, Raz Segal, a professor in genocide and Holocaust studies, declared that this current assault on Gaza is undoubtedly “a textbook case of genocide.” One of the latest crimes in this genocide is Israel bombing the Al-Ahli Hospital (also known as The Baptist Hospital) on Oct. 17. The hospital, located in Gaza’s city center in the Al Zaitoon neighborhood, was deliberately targeted by Israeli forces — they have been bombing the area surrounding the hospital and issued a “warning,” dropping evacuation orders as they have ‘warned’ more than 20 other hospitals. In a preliminary count, Gaza’s Ministry of Health estimated that more than 500 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack, and over 1,200 Palestinians are missing.

Al-Ahli (Baptist) Hospital was established in 1882 and has been serving the Palestinian community in Gaza for over 100 years. During the attack, the hospital also functioned as a shelter for displaced individuals and families in Gaza since the start of this latest Israeli bombardment campaign.

Hours after the strike, doctors from the Al-Ahli (Baptist) Hospital held a press conference standing between dozens of covered Palestinian bodies. Medical staff were seen holding lifeless corpses of children, shock on their faces. The images from the Al-Ahli (Baptist) Hospital massacre are haunting. Since Oct. 7, Israel killed 3,478 Palestinians and injured 12,065, while 1,300 are missing under the rubble.

With news of the hospital bombing spreading across the globe, people in different cities took to the streets. In Occupied Palestine, Palestinians protested from Ramallah to Jenin.

In Jordan, protesters gathered in droves and set part of the Israeli embassy on fire. In Lebanon, overhead footage showed hundreds of people marching in Beirut to protest Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. Another video shows Lebanese protesters burning part of the American embassy. Simultaneously, protesters in Turkey attempted to break into a NATO military base. The collective anger and grief spread even wider, with protests breaking out in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and elsewhere in the Arab and Western world.

At the time of the writing, news of Joshua Paul’s resignation as director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for the Biden Administration broke, citing the United States’ “blind support” for Israel and that “he cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict.” He also wrote that the United States cannot be “both against Occupation, and for it … for freedom, and against it.”

Also, on Oct. 18, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution introduced by Brazil calling for a ceasefire. 

The Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali tweeted: “Sources with direct knowledge confirm many high-ranking Muslim appointees are strongly considering resigning. The Biden administration isn't listening to them during this crisis, their communities are frustrated with them, & Islamophobes are targeting them & questioning their loyalties.”

The Israeli regime took credit for the attack on the hospital via a tweet, then deleted it. During the press conference at Al-Ahli (Baptist) Hospital, doctors stated that Israel had sent the hospital an evacuation order.

A fake Twitter account of a self-proclaimed Al-Jazeera journalist called Farida Khan tweeted in support of Israel's claim that it did not strike the hospital. This bot claimed to have “video proof” that the rocket launched into the hospital was a Hamas missile. Al-Jazeera quickly released a statement declaring that the account has no ties to Al-Jazeera.