Image Source: Middle East Eye
Bethlehem – Earlier today, Israeli forces withdrew from the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza after nearly three weeks of extensive destruction and devastation. This withdrawal follows months after Israeli forces had previously declared the area cleared.
According to activist and educator Baha Hilo, the Israeli ground and aerial assault destroyed almost everything in one of Gaza’s largest refugee camps, including basic infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and residential areas.
Dozens of civilians have been killed, and countless others have been forced to flee for their lives, heading either south towards Rafah or towards the sea, desperately seeking safety wherever they can. However, no place in Gaza is truly safe from the pervasive Israeli violence.
Some residents have returned to the area following the Israeli forces’ withdrawal, inspecting the extensive and uninhabitable damage left behind.
Despite warnings and calls for restraint, Israel has continued its violent operations in Gaza unabated, showing long-standing disregard for international legal orders.
Previously, they were ordered by the Hague to break their blockade and allow the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave. Israel resisted, continuing the blockade, which led to famine, starvation, and the deaths of many Palestinians.
When ordered not to invade Rafah, the Israeli regime responded by bombing, killing, and burning civilians as they slept. Hilo stated that it’s as if Israel is taking these warnings and orders as challenges, responding to them with even more violence, death, and destruction.
“It seems like every time the international community puts some pressure on Israel not to do things, the Israeli criminals take it as a daring challenge. Don’t go into Rafah, so they burned people alive in Rafah and killed civilians. They practise murdering civilians and give a free pass for their snipers to start using Palestinian bodies as legitimate targets. So, whatever the international community tells Israel not to do, the Israeli criminals take it as a daring challenge.”
International Inaction and Complicity in Gaza
Amidst the destruction of the Jabalia Refugee Camp, Hilo strongly criticised international governments that claim to support the Palestinians for their inaction and complicity in the siege and genocide of Gaza.
Speaking from Bethlehem in occupied Palestine, he expressed frustration with world leaders for not heeding the calls of their civilians, who want them to take action to stop enabling Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
He implored these leaders to recognise the profound suffering and injustices faced by the Palestinians, emphasising that their actions, policies, and alliances, no matter how limited, if at all, often speak louder than their words. Whether they acknowledge it or not, the reality is that for 75 years, the Palestinians have been neglected by them.
However, Hilo stated that Palestinians understand the difference between the people on the ground and their governments. The actions, marches, boycotts, and shows of solidarity from people worldwide prevent them from giving up altogether.
“We can tell the difference between the government’s conduct and all the governments that are in alliance with the Israeli criminal regime for the past 76 years. They are not the same as the people. The protests that have been happening all along are recognised. That is what prevents us from giving up completely.”
