The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 16th February 2024
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 16th February 2024
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Israel is facing mounting calls to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip amid fears of a new Zionist onslaught on Rafah where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from Israel’s relentless bombardments of other parts of the Palestinian enclave.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him France opposed an Israeli offensive in Rafah. Macron said that such an attack “could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new magnitude”. It would “constitute violations of the international humanitarian law and would pose an additional risk of regional escalation”.
But Netanyahu, who believes he can do anything he likes with America’s blessing, told Macron that Israel “will fight until a total victory and it includes a powerful operation in Rafah.” He said that the Israeli army would allow civilians to flee the city before launching the attack – but no Arab believes him.
The leaders of Spain and Ireland are calling on the European Commission to urgently review whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza as international pressure grows for Israel to hold off on an assault of the densely packed southern border city of Rafah. And People’s China has called on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza as soon as possible. China’s Foreign Ministry added in a brief statement on Tuesday that Israel should “do everything possible to avoid casualties among innocent civilians and prevent a more devastating humanitarian disaster in Rafah”.
Israeli troops backed by tanks and machine gun fire have stormed the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis forcing everyone inside to flee for their lives while Israeli planes pound Rafah before the start of a feared ground operation on the southern city in the Gaza Strip that the Israelis once designated a “safe zone”. But the Palestinian resistance continues to fight – battling in the streets and alleys in the Strip to fend off the brutal Israeli invaders.
In Geneva the United Nations humanitarian chief has raised alarm about Israel’s potential ground invasion of Rafah, saying the raid could lead to “slaughter” in the densely populated city and put the aid operation at “death’s door”. Martin Griffiths said Israel “cannot continue to ignore” warnings issued by the international community against the dangerous consequences of an onslaught on Rafah.
Rafah, situated in the Gaza Strip’s closed southern border with Egypt, is home to nearly 1.5 million Palestinians who have been displaced due to Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian territory. The city has recently come under heavy Israeli airstrikes, with over 100 people killed there on Monday alone.
In the occupied West Bank violence is soaring as Israeli settlers attack Palestinian civilians in a new drive to force them off the land the Zionists covet for themselves. And on the northern front tension is rising as Hezbollah, the south Lebanese resistance movement, vows to avenge recent Israeli air-raids that killed a number of civilians and a senior commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. Resistance rocket fire has already forced some 80,000 Israelis to flee from Zionist settlements along the frontier and this week the Israeli army’s Northern Command HQ in the northern Israeli town of Safed was rocketed killing one soldier and wounding eight others.
Meanwhile Israel has stepped up its attacks on Syria in what appears to be an attempt to make up for its failure in the Gaza Strip and on the front with Lebanon. Last week Israeli warplanes launched missiles on targets in Homs city and the countryside in central Syria. Some of the missiles were intercepted.