src: Europe says OXI https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DuxpFZMCG/

On this day, 7 October 2023, after decades of ethnic cleansing, illegal occupation, and apartheid, armed Palestinians, led by Hamas, broke out of Gaza and attacked Israel.

Since 2007, Gaza had been subject to a blockade which destroyed its economy and left a million residents without enough food, while over 5000 were killed in Israeli attacks. Over 1500 Palestinians were also killed in the West Bank and Israel, and thousands of terrorist attacks by Israeli settlers took place.

During the October 7 assault, the Israeli army gave the Hannibal directive, instructing troops to kill Israelis in order to stop them being taken hostage. By the time the attack was over, at least 314 Israeli soldiers and 809 civilians were dead, with 252 taken hostage, with the intention of exchanging them for some of the 2500 Palestinian hostages held without charge in Israel.

Israel immediately attacked Gaza, with officials indicating clear genocidal intent. The defence minister called Palestinians “human animals” and said that energy, food and water would be cut off from civilians. The deputy Knesset speaker said Israel should be “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth”, and the heritage minister said there were “no uninvolved civilians” so they should drop a nuclear bomb.

Since then, over 234,000 Gazans have been killed or wounded, with 48% of those killed being children; 40% under 10 years old. The dead include at least 248 journalists, 1722 health workers and 543 aid workers. With food cut off, a third of young children are malnourished, while hundreds of people have died of malnutrition. 90% of the population has been displaced, 92% of residential buildings destroyed, along with every university, and 90% of schools and 94% of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed.

Most reputable human rights bodies now consider that Israel is engaged in genocide, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and many more.

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