The Exacerbation of Israel’s Gaza Massacre Situation

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 19 May 2025

Sakai Tanaka - TRANSCEND Media Service

Palestinian children wait for a hot meal prepared by volunteers in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, April 2024.  (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

8 May 2025 — Israel is trying to starve the people remaining in Gaza.  International aid organizations and others have been prevented from bringing food and other supplies into Gaza from outside since March this year by the Israeli authorities. International aid organizations are not allowed to bring supplies into Gaza and are being forced to suspend their activities one after another. （World Central Kitchen Halts Aid Operations in Gaza Due To Israeli Blockade）（Israeli Defense Minister Says No Humanitarian Aid Will Enter Gaza, Vows Indefinite Occupation） [AI Summary: The Situation Regarding Israel’s Military Actions]

2. Even before the War broke out in October 2023, those people in Gaza were unable to survive without food being brought in from outside (i.e. the imports and aid). After the War broke out, the economic activity in Gaza has been completely paralyzed. Without food being brought in, people will starve to death. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of Security [of the Israeli government], acknowledges that the “proscription of the food deliveries”, which will bring about starvation to the Gazans, is one of the strategies of Israel. （As Israel Openly Declares Starvation as a Weapon, Media Still Hesitate to Blame It for Famine）[Gaza genocide]
3. Many Gazans would rather escape from Gaza to Egypt and survive than starve to death in Gaza. Israel hopes that all Gazans will leave for Egypt, leaving Gaza empty and completing the eradication of Palestine. (The residents of the West Bank will also leave because they do not want to starve to death like the Gazans.) The Israeli army, which wants to expel the Gazans, occupies the border between Egypt and Gaza (Philadelphia Corridor), and is thought to be creating a loophole on the corridor to allow Gazans to cross into Egypt. （Almost half of Gazans willing to leave enclave, Palestinian research center finds）
4. However, Gazans do not leave Gaza. This is because Hamas, which controls Gaza, does not allow its citizens to cross the border and escape. Hamas has had overwhelming power and authority in the Gazan society for a long time. If The citizens of Gaza are allowed to leave Egypt, most of them will leave there. If they remain in Gaza, they will starve to death or be killed by the Israeli army. If the citizens leave, Gaza will lose its society and, then, Hamas will lose its reason for existence. Hamas has no choice but to prohibit those Gazans from leaving, in order to maintain Gaza and Palestine, even if the people starve to death. （Israel Accused of Using ‘Starvation Warfare’ in Gaza at World Court）
5. It is also speculated that if the citizens of Gaza try to sneak out of Gaza and are found by Hamas, they will be killed. Last month [April 2025], a rally of the Gazan citizens protesting against Hamas’ rule was held in Gaza. However, it was suppressed by Hamas, and the ringleader was probably killed, and the anti-Hamas political movement has disappeared. Hamas’s control is extremely strong. The Israeli intelligence agencies may have encouraged the anti-Hamas movement, but their tactics were largely ineffective. （Why don’t Gazans protest Hamas in face of destruction, starvation, and deaths?）
6. Hamas recently proposed a five-year ceasefire deal with Israel to keep Gaza and Palestine alive, offering to release all remaining hostages (21 hostages?). This five-year ceasefire would allow Gaza to be rebuilt during that time. （Israel rejects five-year Gaza ceasefire deal that would allow Hamas ‘time to rearm,’ official says）
7. Israel’s Gaza War is (officially) a war to rescue the Israeli hostages from Hamas, who attacked Israel in October 2023 and took 251 hostages. (However, the real goal of the Israeli government has been the elimination of Gaza and Palestine.) If Hamas returns all the hostages, Israel’s goal of the Gaza War will be achieved and the ceasefire should be possible. Hamas, being aware of the near completion of the elimination of the Gazans through the starvation operations, made a formal proposal to Israel. However, Netanyahu’s government rejected Hamas’ proposal. （Netanyahu Stirs Fresh Controversy: Victory In Gaza Is Top Priority, Not Hostages）
8. The hostages’ families and the opposition parties (i.e. which are mostly former Labour Party people, who are overall British puppets) criticized the Netanyahu government. They organized large anti-government demonstrations. However, many Israelis seem to feel the importance of eliminating Palestine and unifying Israel as a nation and completing the unfinished war of independence. So, the opposition movement as such has not become strong enough to destroy the Netanyahu administration. Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to fully occupy Gaza.  The Israeli reservists have been called up.  The invasion of Gaza by Israel has been intensified ever more. There is an increasing possibility that Gaza will be completely eradicated in the foreseeable future by being the residents forced to be starved to death. （Israeli Government Approves Plan for Full Military Occupation of Gaza）
9. Before the War, 2.3 million people lived in Gaza. Currently, nothing is available of [official] estimations or of gross calculations of the numbers of the people still alive in Gaza. For instance, how many of those killed in the War (or already starved to death)?  How many of those who managed to escape to Egypt?  How many of those who are still surviving in Gaza?  I estimate that there are probably half a million to one million of each. Israel will continue the War until there will be no more survivors in Gaza.  Bezalel Smotrich, Financial Minister of the Israeli cabinet, who promotes the eradication of Palestine, recently said that the War will end when hundreds of thousands more leave Gaza. This implies that hundreds of thousands are still surviving in Gaza. （Smotrich: Israel Will Stop Fighting Once ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Palestinians Are Removed from Gaza）（IDF calls up tens of thousands of reservists for staged Gaza invasion）
10. The very main mistake of Israel, which caused the current situation, was as follows: After the 1967 Six-Day War, during which Israel took Gaza from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan, this Jewish country allowed those Palestinians in Gaza and those in the West Bank to continue living there instead of expelling them to Egypt and Jordan. [Why did Israel allow the Palestinians to live in Gaza and in the West Bank, then? Let me explain briefly about its background as follows:]  The first attack in the 1967 Six-Day War was conducted by the Arab coalition forces of Egypt and Jordan. Therefore, Israel fought for its self-defense.  It, then, achieved the crushing victory.  In the aftermath of the victory, Israel could have expelled all those residents of Gaza and those of the West Bank as a part of the War.  However, Britain and the United States pressured the Israeli authorities (i.e. the Labour Party government) not to expel the Palestinians.  As the result, Israel was forced to occupy and govern the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank.  This has become [a critical part of] the “Palestinian Problem” since then.  I will write more about this topic in a future article. I must also draw a comparison with the “Holocaust” and “Israel’s act in Gaza and in the West Bank”. [Six-Day War (1967) – Third Arab–Israeli War DOCUMENTARY]    [Status of territories occupied by Israel in 1967]     [How the Holocaust shapes Israel’s war in Gaza]

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 Notes:

1. The hyperlinks with the parentheses ( ) at the end of some paragraphs were added by the original author. Those hyperlinks in the paragraphs and those with brackets [ ], with the italic letters at the end of some paragraphs were added by the translator for the convenience of the reader.
2. The views and/or opinions in those hyperlinks added by the translator do not necessarily reflect those of his. In addition, it is either impossible or unavailable for the translator to verify the genuineness of the information in those links. He does not take any responsibility for the contents in those relevant links at all.
3. The paragraph number was added to the head of each paragraph (except to that of the first paragraph) by the translator for the convenience of the reader.
4. Numbers, such as (1), (2), (3), (i), (ii), (iii) or (a), (b), (c), and bold and/or italic letters were also added in the translation by the translator for the same reason.
5. One or a few supplementary words, phrases or sentences in Italic letters without underlines in brackets [ ] were added to show the original author’s message in some contexts or sentences clearer where deemed necessary, while the essential meaning in the message was retained, neither modified nor changed at all. 
6. The views and/or opinions expressed in the above-mentioned article are those of Sakai Tanaka, who is the original author. His views and/or opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Transcend Media Service (TMS) or those of the translator. Therefore, the reader is kindly requested to understand, interpret or judge those views and/or opinions at his or her own responsibility.
7. The original article in Japanese was published more than a few days or a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the situations and/or conditions mentioned in the article might have been changed. This also means that the author’s argument expressed and/or the information provided in the article might have become inadequate or less or least adequate, obsolete, out of date or no longer valid by the time the TMS reader reads the same article in English. 

Original author: After graduating from university, Sakai Tanaka started working at the Kyodo News  Agency in 1986. From 1997 he joined Microsoft Network (MSN) and in 1999, due to change of policy at Microsoft, he became an independent journalist. Tanaka has published more than twenty books on international affairs, some translated and published in China, South Korea and Taiwan. He studied at Harvard University from 2000 to 2001 and in 2005 was invited to serve as a senior researcher at the Royal Faisal Institute in Saudi Arabia. Website: tanakanews.com

Satoshi Ashikaga is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. Having worked as researcher, development program/project officer, legal protection/humanitarian assistance officer, human rights monitor-negotiator, managing-editor, and more, he prefers a peaceful and prudent life.  His previous work experiences, including those in war zones and war-torn zones, constantly remind him of the invaluableness of peace.

Translation: Satoshi Ashikaga – Google Translate

Original in Japanese:   進むイスラエルのガザ虐殺

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation’s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH 729, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 19 May 2025.

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