Alwaght- Despite world calls for immediate end to the war on Gaza, Israeli regime not only has not stopped its attacks on schools, hospitals, and shelters of civilians, but also launched a new wave of its genocidal campaign, killing a large number of children and women.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli army in its latest crime bombed Fahmi al-Jarjawi School, which is a makeshift shelter for the displaced Gazans, causing a horrific massacre. Medical sources reported that 36 civilians were killed in the attack and more were injured.
Such crimes are not new by the Israelis and occupation army has several times in a systematic way struck civilian sites like hospitals, schools, and camps. Bombing UN-affiliated schools, attacking functioning hospitals, and even destroying shelters where thousands of women, children, and the elderly have taken refuge are just some of the crimes that Tel Aviv has committed during this war, now in its second year.
According to the Geneva Convention, attacks on medical, educational, and civilian infrastructure facilities are prohibited in times of war, and violators must be prosecuted as war criminals. However, Israel, in flagrant disregard for these principles, has repeatedly and systematically carried out these attacks, effectively turning impunity to punishment into a routine.
International organizations and rights groups have repeatedly condemned these actions and called for accountability from the Israeli officials, but the lack of serious political will on the part of world powers to curb these hostilities has encouraged Israelis to further commit these war crimes.
Now Tel Aviv attacks on schools and hospitals is the main part of a military strategy and this inhuman approach to war has betrayed the true face of this regime to the world more than ever.
What are main Israeli aims behind bombing civil sites?
Striking civil places and shelters is part of a systematic and long-term plan for genocide, forced displacement, forced relocation, and finally full occupation of Gaza and change of its demographic composition in favor of the Israelis— a policy having been implemented in the West Bank for years with construction of settlements.
By systematically destroying schools and vital infrastructure, Israel is making it virtually impossible for people to continue their normal lives and forcing them to flee their homeland. This process is a form of ethnic cleansing whose ultimate goal is the gradual destruction of the identity, land, and future of the Palestinian people. The scorched earth policy currently being pursued by the Israeli army is designed to leave an uninhabitable ruin to the Palestinians, an act that constitutes a war crime under international law.
In this context, attacking schools is not only an attempt to destroy Palestinian cultural and educational symbols, but also a tactic to deprive future generations of education, awareness, and empowerment against the occupation.
On the other hand, the aim of these attacks is putting psychological and social pressure on the Palestinians to provoke them against resistance factions, especially Hamas. The demolition of vital infrastructure, the destruction of schools, and the displacement of thousands of people are part of a scorched earth strategy are aimed at not securing a military victory but at breaking the resolve and resistance of the Palestinian people. With this strategy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to sow a rift between the people and the resistance forces, thereby paving the way for the collapse of popular support for Hamas. Netanyahu hopes that with these pressures, Hamas will be forced to stop its resistance and release the Israeli prisoners it holds since October 7, 2023. However, these measures have so far not only failed to stop the resistance but have also increased international solidarity with Gaza and stirred global public opinion against the Israelis.
Bombing, Netanyahu's answer to ceasefire calls
Bombing of al-Jarjawi took place just when the American negotiators were talking to Netanyahu for a temporary ceasefire in return for release of a number of dead and living prisoners, a plan proposed by Trump's envoy to the region Steve Witkoff and accepted by Hamas.
Although the US is considered a strategic ally of the Israeli regime and is complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians, in recent weeks it has been trying to stop the war on Gaza, based on Washington's political interests. The pressure on Tel Aviv to stop the attacks is an attempt to mend the international image of Washington and maintain the alliance with the Arab countries that play a mediating role.
However, by issuing a new order to call up reserve forces and ramping up the bombings, Tel Aviv has shown that it has no intention for swapping prisoners and agreeing to a ceasefire, an issue that many in the occupied territories see as Netanyahu's efforts to secure his political survival. Israeli political sources believe that Netanyahu, due to severe domestic pressure, gaps within the cabinet and a decline in public support, is deliberately refusing to end the war in order to preserve the cohesion of his fragile cabinet. Therefore, in recent days, even the US-proposed ceasefire plan, which was presented with the support of Donald Trump, was rejected by Tel Aviv.
The barbarism of the Israelis in Gaza in recent weeks is a result of repeated military losses and the inability to realize the aims of the campaign, and amid growing insubordination of the military personnel and civil protests, there is no clear prospect for any success in the new round of military operations. Failing in this strategy, Tel Aviv is resorting to a new criminal strategy. In other words, the Israelis are trying to reverse their defeat with insane bombing of schools, hospitals, and residential areas and full destruction of the strip.
