In the Introduction to Volume 1 of the book entitled Gaza: A Rabid War of Revenge,[1] I discussed Israel’s historical and current endeavors to dehumanize the Palestinians as a means of justifying the genocidal wars it has been waging on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. I also discussed the historical and current policy of deportation as a principal Israeli objective in most of its wars, and analyzed that destructive military doctrine, the so-called “Most moral army in the world,” used as propaganda to implement deliberate strategies to justify war crimes committed against the Palestinians, and ongoing until the time of the present writing.
Nine months have elapsed since that book was published. It consists of 70 policy papers prepared by specialists and analysts dealing with diverse aspects of that war, from health, education and agriculture to culture and the historical and political background. The question now is: What has changed since the appearance of Volume 1? How have things evolved, and what future can these destroyed societal sectors look forward to? What changes have occurred during the past few months?
Murder, destruction and rampage go on, and the circle of aggression grows ever wider
Fifteen months have elapsed since the Israeli occupation regime launched its genocidal war on the Palestinian people, a war that deliberately and systematically targeted all basic life supporting facilities, taking in hospitals, universities, school, areas and services providing shelter, agricultural installations and farms, and food and drinkable water. Israel also targeted various UNRWA institutions and demonized its role.
As a result, the Gaza Strip is no longer fit for human habitation with its cities and camps reduced to rubble, the absence of any infrastructure or else one that is rapidly being degraded by constant and deliberate shelling, to say nothing of the effects left on Gaza by years of a cruel siege. Israel further foils any serious attempt to rebuild or repair the damage, and this is met with violent shelling whenever it is attempted.
All this took place amidst the deaths, injuries and the loss of tens of thousands of victims. Assassinations targeted front-ranking HAMAS members including Isma`il Haniyya, head of its Political Bureau and his successor as head of that Bureau, Yahya al-Sinwar. Assassinated also were Salih al-`Aruri together with a number of other political and parliamentary figures.
In addition to the random shelling of civilians, the occupation regime carried out a deliberate and well-studied policy of targeting prominent media and medical figures, scientists, intellectuals and artists. Some 205 journalists and media figures, both men and women, were assassinated as also medical doctors, and specialists in particular, where the number of martyrs working in the heath sector, and including doctors and nurses, reached 1068 martyrs.[2] Targeted too were workers in the education sector where the number of martyrs reached 910,[3] among whom were university presidents and deans of faculties. The combined expertise of these men and women, which cannot be replaced during war, will take years to replace.
Agriculture and the environment were also systematically targeted. Deliberately shelled were water and wastewater networks, farmlands, parks and public gardens, and the fisheries sector and its holdings. All of this aggravated the hunger crisis where the Gaza Sector was classified, according to the UN Report on State of Food and Nutrition Security in the World, and which categorizes stages of food security during emergencies, as falling in the fourth category which precedes famine.[4]
Yet this deliberate targeting was not confined to the destruction of life-giving sectors but took in artists and intellectuals of whom some 73 met their martyrdom, in addition to the destruction of tens of cultural centers, heritage sites and monuments, leading to the total disruption of cultural and artistic activity in the Gaza Strip.[5]
One cannot also ignore the question of Gazans taken prisoners and thrown into concentration camps and secret prison sites, where they have been subjected to torture, murder, rape, and cruel detention conditions that violate all international laws and norms.[6]
As regards martyred prisoners, the figures are uncertain due to a policy of forcible disappearance practiced by the Israeli occupation regime. According to figures published by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and the Prisoners’ Authority, the number of confirmed martyrs as of October7, 2023, is 56, all of whose names are known.[7] Nevertheless, estimates by legal bodies indicate tens of other Gazan prisoners have met their death but whose martyrdom has not been announced due to the ongoing policy of forcible disappearance.[8] In this regard, Israeli legal institutions and its courts of law played a significant role in accommodating and facilitating the policies put into effect by the security and military establishments against Palestinian prisoners, especially Gazan prisoners.[9]
Attempts to deport the inhabitants are ongoing
On this subject, `Azmi Bishara wrote: “In my view, the prime indicator of Israel’s intentions to inflict harm on Palestinians as a national group is Israel’s full awareness of the effects of collective punishment upon civilians and of the siege and random shelling of residential quarters, schools and hospitals as well as the engendering of famine. These effects may be summarized as follows: killing the largest possible number of unarmed Palestinian civilians; causing permanent disabilities to as many of them as possible and turning Gaza into an uninhabitable land, thus causing a forced emigration. The other indicator is that collective punishment is a publicly declared policy which has vengeful political objectives.”[10]
In point of fact, schemes of deporting the Palestinians from their homeland, voluntarily or by force, have accompanied the Zionist movement since its very inception and were put into effect in 1948. Following its aggressive war of June, 1967, Israel began once more to seriously consider these schemes, as evidenced in the protocols and minutes of meetings and discussions that took place at cabinet sessions in the wake of that war, and published by Haaretz newspaper. These debates included phrases like “reducing the population”, “emptying houses”, “deportation”, “expulsions”, “exiling”, “emptying spaces” and even “transfer”. These words and phrases recurred prominently in discussions held by Israeli government ministers in the Sixties and Seventies regarding the future of the Gaza Strip. Minutes of government sessions kept in the state archives indicate that the present-day ambitions of the Israeli Fascist right that call for encouraging the deportation of the Palestinians from Gaza, merely echo much older ideas and schemes proposed by prime ministers, ministers, and leaders of the Israeli left wing, who belonged to the generation of the state founders.[11]
Since the Nakba of 1948, that is, the major deportation of the population, no occasion has passed without raising the subject of forcible deportation of Palestinians, Syrians or Lebanese. Forcible deportation and “transfer” have been principal components of Israel’s colonialist mindset since its beginning, irrespective of the various pretexts offered to justify these acts.
As Mahir al-Sharif pointed out in his study of the intellectual background of Zionist schemes of ethnic cleansing, Zionist leaders had justified the idea of expulsion on moral grounds by alleging that the Palestinians “were never a people possessing national rights in Palestine” but mere “Arabs” who could be settled in any place on vast Arab lands. To achieve that aim, the Zionist leadership sought, on the one hand, to belittle Arab nationalism and on the other hand, to deny that Zionism was a colonialist movement.[12] The means used for deportation were not important, whether they be through massacres, siege, hunger, impoverishment, denying work and educational opportunities and even creating incentives for people to leave.
Turning to the minutes published in Haaretz on December 3, 2004, the mindset of Israel’s founders is clearly revealed as regards expulsion and deportation. For example, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said on June 25, 1967: “If we succeed in driving 300,000 refugees out of Gaza and into places elsewhere, we can easily annex Gaza.” In his remarks, he was alluding to a plan approved by the then government, but not completely implemented, which was to annex the Gaza Strip to Israel and empty it of Palestinians to allow for Jewish settlement in it.
On this same subject, Levi Eshkol, the then prime minister, stated that by that year’s end “and because of population density, the Arabs might move away from the Gaza Strip. But even after that, we will still have some 400,000 Arabs (in Israel and the West Bank) and 150,000 will remain in Gaza.” His solution was cruel: “Perhaps if we do not supply them with enough water, they will have no other alternative but to leave,because their fields will dry up and wilt. So, we cannot know this beforehand. Who knows? Maybe another war will occur that will solve the problem for us. But this will be a kind of luxury and it may result in an unexpected end.”[13]
From the above discussion, it becomes perfectly clear that the means and schemes suggested may be diverse, but the objective of the Zionist movement has remained the same, whereas the means to be employed are mere tactics that could change according to circumstances.
The war on the West Bank continues relentlessly and in more than one direction
Israel’s daily assaults on the West Bank continues unabated and has indeed intensified to the point where the entire WB appears like a war zone, especially in the north, as has occurred in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The war is not confined to the military and security dimensions but goes beyond these to include an economic war with two prongs: first, withholding taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, estimated at some 2.2 billion dollars annually, and constituting some 65% of the PA’s income. One should add that the Israeli government does not collect these taxes for free, but deducts some 3% of that sum, i.e. around 51 million dollars annually, as per the Paris Economic Agreement of 1994. At present, the sums withheld by Israel exceed 2 billion dollars. The deductions are carried out under diverse pretexts such as sums paid to families of dead Israelis or else deducting sums earmarked by the PA for support of Gaza and the families of martyrs and prisoners, and tolls on those heading to Jordan at crossing points.[14]
Secondly, the other prong of this economic war has to do with prohibiting entry to some 225,000 workers who used to work in Israeli establishments, some of whom even worked in Israeli settlements being built on WB lands. After October 7, 2023, that number shrank considerably, amounting to merely 27,000 workers, as per figures published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.[15] This sector is a vital lifeline of the Palestinian economy, with these workers earning some 400,000 dollars annually.[16]
Added to all this is the fact that the war on the WB assumes a Judaizing character, as evidenced in the confiscation and annexation of land, in conformity with systematic policies that gathered unprecedented speed since October 7. Barriers and checkpoints have multiplied in number, surveillance cameras have been installed, road networks have been changed around[17], and land annexations, demolitions of houses and expulsion of Bedouin encampments throughout the WB have intensified. This war has also included control over water resources and an unprecedented manipulation of water flowing into Palestinian regions of the WB.[18]
New war fronts and arenas
The war on Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023, was not confined to Gaza. Israel simultaneously opened other fronts, both near and far. Thus, Israel launched a devastating war on Lebanon which targeted southern Lebanon, Beirut’s Dahiya suburb, and the Biqa` region, in addition to raids on the capital, Beirut. Israel further assassinated a number of front-rank Hizbollah leaders, notably Hizbollah Secretary- General Hasan Nasrullah, and Hashim Safieddin, head of Hizbollah’s Executive Council. Despite the ceasefire declared on November 27, 2024, the Israeli army continues to deliberately violate the terms of that ceasefire, establishes outposts in several Lebanese frontier towns, and indeed publicly declares its intention to remain in some of these towns indefinitely, following the sixty days specified in the ceasefire agreement to complete the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israeli bombardment extended to the Yemen and Iran. With the collapse of the Asad regime in Syria on December 8, 2024, Israel’s air force carried out a wide ranging campaign, targeting most of Syria’s military installations. The Israeli army proceeded to occupy new Syrian territories, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and wide areas of the Provinces of Dir`a and Qunaitra, in addition to the separation zone of the occupied Jawlan heights, this last an egregious violation of the armistice signed with Syria in 1974.
But let us now return to ask: What has changed since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its unprecedented assault on Gaza?
The Israeli army moved to accomplish goals set for it by the politicians and these included the destruction of HAMAS’s military capabilities, prohibiting its return to rule Gaza, and recovering the Israeli prisoners held by that movement. The army was granted unparalleled power in using destructive weapons which allowed army officers of all ranks to take decisions that included shelling, murder and demolition of residential districts, and even the choice of the weapons to be used to that end. According to a report in the New York Times on 26 December 2024, this constitutes a fundamental break in the rules of engagement.[19]. This appears to explain the massive number of civilian victims in the Gaza Strip. Yet it early on became evident in Israel that the war’s declared aims were impossible to achieve and several prominent Israeli figures expressed doubt as to whether these aims could be accomplished. These figures included Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister and former army Chief of Staff, Ehud Olmert, and General Isaac Brek, who wrote regularly about the impossibility of achieving the war’s aims. Former war minister and former Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz called, when the war was not yet a month old, for an exchange deal which embraces releasing all Palestinian prisoners.[20]
At first, voices calling for stopping the war and moving to a deal to release the Israelis abducted were hesitant and weak. With time, however, they became more explicit and gradually gathered support, not solely among the politicians and military but also in the media and among columnists in Israeli newspapers. Public spaces witnessed popular strikes and demonstrations, chiefly among families of the abductees, though their effect on the government remained limited and did not constitute serious pressure on that government to force it to take steps towards an exchange deal, conditional upon ending the war and withdrawal from Gaza.[21] Concurrently, the Israeli government faced an internal threat from the fascist right inside the cabinet, represented by such parties as “Jewish Power”, led by Itamar Ben Gvir and “Religious Zionism” led by Bezalel Smotrich. Both these stuck firmly to the goal of utterly destroying HAMAS and the resistance forces as the sole means of freeing the prisoners. The positions adopted by these figures were not confined to rejecting any exchange deal but went so far as to threaten to break up the ruling coalition government and calling for early elections in case a deal was to be implemented. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu has no interest in dissolving his government and holding early elections due to the law suits being brought against him since before the war that have to do with corruption charges and that may result in his conviction and imprisonment. Needless to add, a government dissolution would open the door to the formation of official commissions of inquiry regarding the events of October 7, adding to Netanyahu’s liabilities which could end his political career.
Following the war which lasted fifteen months, reports indicate that the fighters of Gaza, of all parties, have remained steadfast, and Israeli estimates speak of some twenty to twenty three thousand active combatants in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the resistance continues to mobilize thousands of new recruits that will join the fighting for the first time. Despite the fact that the Israeli army announced that it has dismantled the military structure of HAMAS, the data reveals that the rate of recruiting new fighters for the movement exceeds the rate of degrading or ending HAMAS’s military capability. These figures were described as “worrying” when presented before the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee of the Knesset.[22]
Furthermore, the population of Gaza has remained defiant and insistent upon remaining where they are for fear of, once again, suffering refuge in Arab capitals or camps. The steadfastness of many professionals has had an enormous effect in standing up to Israel’s genocidal assault and in preventing it from achieving its goals. The physicians, for instance, have continued to carry out their duties despite the meager resources and the direct Israeli targeting of them and of their places of work. Thus, at the Kamal `Adwan Hospital, the medical staff continued to function until the very last moment before some were murdered and others were arrested, and the entire building was burned to the ground. Similar events took place at the al-Shifa’ medical center and at other hospitals. This is also true of civil defense teams who faced enormous difficulties due to scarcity of resources and equipment. Likewise, the educational workers continued their work despite the vast destruction of schools and educational institutions and their defiance played a major role in resisting Israel’s savage assault.
Thus, some fifteen months after the war’s inception, Israel has failed decisively to achieve its declared aims and this despite its continuous presence on the Salah al-Din and Netsarim axis which splits the Gaza Strip into two, and despite the utter destruction of most of Gaza’s quarters, especially in the north. This latter had been the objective of the so-called “Generals’ Plan”[23], one that sought to establish a permanent military presence which includes settlers.[24]
Shattering the image of the “most moral army in the world”
The ceaseless massacres committed by the Israeli army, even in areas of deportation designated as safe, and its systematic destruction of infrastructures, including water reservoirs, as happened when it destroyed the main water reservoir feeding the city of Rafah in late June, 2024, exposed once again the lie that this was the “most moral army in the world.” This was confirmed in a statement made by former Israeli army Chief of Staff (2002-2005) and former war minister (2013-2015) Moshe Yaalon, who described the actions carried out by the army in northern Gaza as tantamount to the crime of ethnic cleansing. He also pointed out that the Israeli army was no longer the “most moral” as alleged by Israel.[25]
As the worldwide campaigns of solidarity with the Palestinians and the calls to end the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing schemes involving the population of Gaza continued, they have all led to a dramatic development: international warrants being issued against Israel. This took place in November 2024, when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Premier Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity. To this may be added the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice which considered Israel’s presence in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip to be a violation of international law.
The ceasefire agreement of January 15, 2025
As the ceasefire agreement took effect, the challenges facing the future of the conflict, and on diverse levels, are mounting, especially since the transformations experienced by the region in the last few months have caused a dramatic turning point in the Middle East whose effects will be felt for many years to come.
On the Palestinian level, the Palestinians will need to monitor development in intra-Palestinian relations and the efforts exerted to achieve national reconciliation in the wake of a war of genocide and extermination on the Palestinian people of Gaza, together with the escalation of threats in the West Bank and mounting schemes of Israeli settlement and annexation, in addition to following up reconstruction efforts and aiding the population of that devastated Strip.
As regards Israel, the ceasefire agreement, once approved by the Israeli government, had immediate results. Itamar Ben Gvir, national security minister and head of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, resigned along with his ministers, while criticisms began to mount as to the government’s handling of the war and its aftereffects. Thus, Giora Eiland, former chairman of Israel’s national security council and architect of the so-called “Generals’ Plan” declared: “The war is over, and HAMAS has triumphed and prevented Israel from achieving its objectives.” Also to be expected is that the internal struggle between the extreme right and the opposition will escalate, as the debate grows in intensity regarding the fate of the current government and the conclusions to be arrived at by commissions of enquiry regarding the failures on October 7 and of the war itself.
Finally, and on the regional level, one must monitor how the new US Administration shall deal with the Middle East conflict, especially since it played a pivotal role in achieving the ceasefire agreement, even before it had officially assumed office, together with its plans for expanding the Abraham Accords, especially in working to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. This agenda also includes monitoring Arab, regional and international developments regarding the future of government in the Gaza Strip and the Two-State solution. It further requires monitoring developments at international courts like the ICJ and the ICC, and the legal consultations to do with the arrest warrants issued during the war.
* This policy paper is the Introduction to the book entitled Gaza: The Rabid War of Revenge; Collected Policy Papers” Vol 2. This was published by the Institute for Palestine Studies, in February, 2025.
[1] انظر: "غزة: حرب الانتقام المسعورة، مجموعة أوراق سياسات"، تقديم خالد فراج، الجزء الأول (بيروت: مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية، 2024).
[2] الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني.
[3] بيان صحافي رقم 734 صادر عن المكتب الإعلامي الحكومي.
[4] الأمم المتحدة، "تقرير دولي: مخاطر المجاعة مرتفعة بأنحاء غزة و96% من السكان يواجهون انعداما حادا للأمن الغذائي"، 25/6/2024.
[5] جاري العمل في مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية على إعداد منصة لتوثيق تدمير قطاع التراث والثقافة والفنون في غزة، ومن المتوقع إطلاقها في الربع الأول من عام 2025.
[6] لا يوجد رقم موحد أو قريب من الدقة لعدد الأسرى الذين تم اعتقالهم خلال الحرب على غزة، لكن التقديرات تشير إلى اعتقال أكثر من 12,000 أسيراً وأسيرة، بالإضافة إلى آلاف الأسرى من قطاع غزة الذين تم اعتقالهم منذ السابع من أكتوبر 2023. ووفقاً لبيان الإعلام الحكومي رقم 734 الصادر بتاريخ 21/01/2025، تم تسجيل 360 حالة اعتقال بين الكوادر الصحية، بالإضافة إلى إعدام الاحتلال لثلاثة أطباء داخل السجون، كما شملت الاعتقالات 48 صحافياً ممن تم التعرف على أسمائهم، و26 عنصراً من أفراد الدفاع المدني. وفي ظل الاجتياحات والحملات اليومية التي تنفذها القوات الإسرائيلية في مدن وقرى ومخيمات الضفة الغربية، وفي قطاع غزة، يصبح من الصعب إعداد لوائح محدثة. ففي غزة تحديداً، تتم الاعتقالات تحت غطاء كثيف من النيران والقصف المدفعي، مما يجعل العمل الميداني للعاملين في المؤسسات الحقوقية لتوثيق حالات الاعتقال أمراً بالغ الصعوبة.
[7] هيئة شؤون الأسرى والمحررين، "هيئة الأسرى ونادي الأسير: استشهاد الأسير الجريح محمد جبر من مخيم الدهيشة"، 19/1/2025.
[8] لمزيد من التفاصيل بهذا الشأن انظر: موقع هيئة شؤون الأسرى، وموقع مؤسسة الضمير لحقوق الإنسان، ونادي الأسير، ومنصة مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية التي وثّقت أوضاع الأسرى بعد السابع من أكتوبر 2023.
[9] لمزيد من المعلومات عن جرائم الاختفاء القسري، انظر: عبير بكر، "دور المحكمة الإسرائيلية العليا في تفاقم جريمة الاختفاء القسري"، "مجلة الدراسات الفلسطينية"، العدد 141 (شتاء 2015)، ص 106.
[10] عزمي بشارة، "الطوفان: الحرب على فلسطين في غزة" (الدوحة: المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات، 2024)، ص 147.
[11] عوفر أدرات، "ʾيجب أن نمسكهم من رقابهم ونرميهم بعيداًʿ: الجيل المؤسس للدولة أراد تنفيذ الترانسفير في غزة"، نشرة "مختارات من الصحف العبرية"، العدد 4506، 8/12/2024.
[12] ماهر الشريف، "الخلفية الفكرية لمشاريع التطهير العرقي الصهيونية"، ورقة سياسات، موقع مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية الإلكتروني.
[13] عوفر أدرات، مصدر سبق ذكره.
[14] "الحكومة تواصل الضغط للإفراج عن أموال ʾالمقاصةʿ: 7.26 مليار شيقل تقتطعها إسرائيل وترفض إعادتها"، وكالة "وفا"، 11/9/2024.
ويمكن أيضاً مراجعة البيانات الصادرة عن وزارة المالية الفلسطينية.
[15] الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني، "مؤشرات القوى العاملة في الضفة الغربية دورة (نيسان- حزيران، 2024) الربع الثاني 2024"، 6/10/2024.
[16] غسان الخطيب، "السيطرة الإسرائيلية المتصاعدة على الضفة الغربية بعد أكتوبر 2023"، "مجلة الدراسات الفلسطينية"، العدد 141 (شتاء 2025).
[17] خالد فراج، "حرب واحدة على أربع جبهات"، ورقة سياسات، موقع مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية الإلكتروني.
[18] أطلقت مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية منصة خاصة وثّقت من خلالها استهداف الضفة الغربية والقدس خلال الحرب الإسرائيلية على غزة.
[19] “Israel Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians”, The New York Times, 26/12/2024.
[20] "وزير الأمن الإسرائيلي السابق شاؤول موفاز يدعو إلى إطلاق سراح جميع السجناء الأمنيين في إسرائيل مقابل المختطفين"، i24، 28/10/2023.
[21] لم يرتقِ حراك أهالي المختطفين إلى مستوى لا يمكن احتواؤه أو التعامل معه من قبل الحكومة، إذ كان يعلو الصوت ويزيد التعاطف مع المتظاهرين عندما كانت تعلن المقاومة مقتل أحد الأسرى، أو عند نشرها فيديوهات مصورة لأسرى يناشدون الحكومة الإسرائيلية وذويهم والفعاليات المختلفة العمل من أجل الوصول إلى صفقة تبادل.
[22] "بعد 15 شهراً على الحرب: ما هو عدد ʾالمخربينʿ الذين ما زالوا ناشطين في قطاع غزة؟"، نشرة "مختارات من الصحف العبرية"، العدد 4527، 3/1/2025.
[23] تقوم "خطة الجنرالات" على تهجير ما تبقى من سكان شمال قطاع غزة بهدف تحويله إلى منطقة عسكرية تمهيداً لتطبيقها في عموم القطاع. وقد وُضعت الخطة بمبادرة من رئيس شعبة العمليات الأسبق الجنرال احتياط غيورا آيلاند.
[24] عن خطة الجنرالات انظر: حسن شاهين، "خطة الجنرالات: من توسعة غزة إلى عودة الاحتلال"، "مجلة الدراسات الفلسطينية"، العدد 141 (شتاء 2025)، ص 86.
[25] "تقرير: يعلون يصرّ على تصريحاته التي أكد من خلالها أن الجيش الإسرائيلي يقوم بتطهير عرقي في قطاع غزة"، نشرة "مختارات من الصحف العبرية"، العدد 4501، 2/12/2024.