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In the wake of the U.S. government's decision to launch the Global War on Terror, local and national organizations across the country banded together to form United for Peace and Justice in 2003. We continue to call for an end to U.S. wars and believe now more strongly than ever that these wars manifest the ongoing horror and depravity that started on September 11, 2001. With the killing of Osama bin Laden, President Obama claims that justice has been done. But there is no justice in the millions of people displaced and hundreds of thousands of civilian lives lost due to U.S.
In the wake of the U.S. government's decision to launch the Global War on Terror, local and national organizations across the country banded together to form United for Peace and Justice in 2003. We continue to call for an end to U.S. wars and believe now more strongly than ever that these wars manifest the ongoing horror and depravity that started on September 11, 2001. With the killing of Osama bin Laden, President Obama claims that justice has been done. But there is no justice in the millions of people displaced and hundreds of thousands of civilian lives lost due to U.S. wars. The continued bombings and military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and now Libya ensure more innocent people will be killed. The tragedy will not come to an end until the wars are put to an end.
Here's a sampling of the responses to the killing of bin Laden shared by member groups and distinguished peace/anti-war activists. We will continue to add pieces as we come across them.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Urge President Obama To Lead the Nation on a Path to Peace
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has always believed violence should be met with nonviolence, terror should be confronted with courage, and grief could be fashioned into action for peace. We said this in the days and months after 9-11, and we stand by our convictions today. https://www.peacefultomorrows.org/article.php?id=1029
American Muslim Voices' statement on Osma Bin Laden's killing
American Muslim Voice Foundation has been committed to build an inclusive, peaceful and beloved nation since its inception. September 11th 2001 was one of the worst tragedies of our nation, that tragedy was used to create a culture of despair, division, hate and violence around the world. Let us hope that we can all focus on healing and building a culture of hope, inclusion, love and peace. https://www.amuslimvoice.org/html/body_amv_statement_on_osama.html
Iraq Veterans Against the War: Bin Laden Dead, What Next?
Sunday night IVAW learned with the rest of the nation that Osama Bin Laden was killed and his body captured by a team of U.S. Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In light of our resolution condemning the occupation of Afghanistan adopted in 2009, we have followed this important news closely and want to share our perspective with supporters, elected officials, policymakers, the press, and the public at large. https://www.ivaw.org/blog/bin-laden-dead-what-next
Military Families Speak Out: Some deaths can't be assuaged by this one... (By Dante Zappala)
The demise of bin Laden does little to undo the countless mistakes we've made in his name.
Amid the requisite flag-waving, chanting, and nationalistic fervor over the death of Osama bin Laden, I will not be rejoicing myself. There will be no vindication for me as I remember the sacrifice of my brother, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.
Code Pink: Enough -- Let the Peace Begin
For us, the death of Osama Bin Laden is a time of profound reflection. With his death, we remember and mourn all the lives lost on September 11. We remember and mourn all the lives lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan. We remember and mourn the death of our soldiers. And we say, as we have been saying for the past nine years, "Enough."https://codepink.org/blog/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-is-dead-let-the-peace-begin/
Dallas Peace Center hopes bin Laden death is turning point
On May 1, President Barack Obama announced was made that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a military operation. He declared that "justice has been served." If this is so, then we need to reflect on the price of that justice, and our opportunities for going forward. The death of Osama Bin Laden should be used as a turning point at which we can put away our instruments of war in Afghanistan and use diplomacy to further address concerns and grievances.
https://www.dallaspeacecenter.org/?id=1
Friends Committee on National Legislation: Take Action: Responding to the Death of Osama bin Laden
The U.S. assassination of Osama bin Laden announced on Sunday night continues the violence initiated by al Qaeda's attacks on the United States and the reciprocation of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. While many people in the United States may feel closure or vindication in the death of the man who claimed to be the intellectual author of the September 11 attacks, for many others it is a failure of imagination and of political will that led to answering violence with more violence. https://fcnl.org/action/alert/2011/lam0502/
Green Party of the United States: After the death of Osama bin Laden, the next step must be peace, including rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders on Monday expressed hope that news of the killing of Osama bin Laden marks a new stage, in which US troops are withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan; air assaults on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Libya are halted; the US presses Israel to observe full human rights and justice for the Palestinian people; and violations of domestic civil liberties are overturned. https://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=419
Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education and Action: Alternative Voices to Triumphal Celebration: On the announced killing of Osama bin Laden
It Was Vengeance, Not Justice. Shot In Cold Blood. Bin Laden 'Was Not Armed and Did Not Use Wife as Human Shield. U.S. Sinks Deeper into a Moral Abyss.
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world. https://malu-aina.org/
Mid-Missouri Peaceworks: Prospects for Peace, Post-Osama bin Laden
While many of our fellow Americans are celebrating the fact that U.S. forces have killed Osama bin Laden, we at Peaceworks, while eager to see all who've committed heinous crimes brought to justice, will only celebrate steps taken to end the violence that 9/11 has been used to justify.
https://blog.midmopeaceworks.org/2011/05/prospects-for-peace-post-osama-bin.html
Pax Christi USA official statement on the death of Osama bin Laden
The killing of Osama bin Laden is an occasion for deep reflection. It must become a turning point in our nation's nearly decade-long wars in response to the tragedy of 9/11. As people of faith, and as Catholics who, only days ago, celebrated Christ's victory over condemnation, torture and death, we pause in this moment in a posture of prayer and repentance.
https://paxchristiusa.org/2011/05/04/statement-pax-christi-usa-official-statement-on-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden/
Tikkun's Spiritual Response to the Assassination of Osama bin Laden
by Peter Gabel and Michael Lerner
There is no question that Osama bin Laden, as the leader of al-Qaida, was implicated in or directly responsible for the deaths of many, many people, most likely including the more than 3,000 American and, women, and children who were killed in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. But it was nevertheless upsetting and shocking to witness the exultation in the media last night when bin Laden's killing was announced. Never should the killing of a human being be an occasion for such celebration -- even in circumstances that involve actual self-defense against mortal danger.
https://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/tikkuns-spiritual-response-to-the-assassination-of-osama-bin-laden
U.S. Labor Against the War: Osama bin Laden is dead. Let's bring all our troops home!
Bin Laden's death is a moment for remembrance and reflection about all the innocent lives lost NY, DC and PA on 9/11. For the thousands of grieving families, perhaps his death will provide a step toward closure.
It is also a moment to reflect on the cost in lives - both civilian and military - and treasure sacrificed in Afghanistan over the course of nearly ten years.
https://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2488/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1213303
Veterans For Peace: Justice Has Been Done?
"Justice has been done," said President Obama.
"Justice has been done."
"Justice has been done."
Justice has been done!? Justice? Justice?? For the last ten years, we've been engaged in an exercise of justice? That's what you call what we've been doing? https://www.veteransforpeace.org/news_detail.php?idx=64
War Resisters League: Bringing Osama bin Laden to Justice? Not Justice, Not Victory: Just Another Murder in the Name of Peace
"I keep thinking of how awful it was to hear that there were people actually celebrating on 9-11. Now I look at the TV and see the same thing." -Family member of a man killed in the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001.
The reported killing of Osama bin Laden by a CIA operation in Pakistan represents neither justice nor victory, and should be no cause for celebration. https://www.warresisters.org/node/1166
Washington Peace Center: WPC Response to bin Laden's Death
In response to Osama bin Laden's death, Phyllis Bennis writes, "Regardless of bin Laden's death, as long as those deadly U.S. wars continue in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and beyond, justice has not been done." We at the Washington Peace Center know that violence cannot bring lasting justice and peace. https://washingtonpeacecenter.net/node/5183
Commentary:
Justice or Vengeance?
By Phyllis Bennis
In the midst of the Arab Spring, which directly rejects al-Qaeda-style small-group violence in favor of mass-based, society-wide mobilization and non-violent protest to challenge dictatorship and corruption, does the killing of Osama bin Laden represent ultimate justice, or even an end to the "unfinished business" of 9/11? https://www.ips-dc.org/articles/bin_laden_justice_or_vengeance
Bin Laden is Dead. Can We Go Home Now?
By Rebecca Gordon War Times
Osama bin Laden is dead. The desire to "capture or kill" this man provided the pretext for two wars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Afghans and U.S. soldiers. The institutions and infrastructure of a modern developed state were all but destroyed in one country. In the other, a vile, murderous and misogynist regime was replaced with a vile, corrupt, and less overtly, but equally misogynist regime.
https://war-times.org/can_we_go_home
Beyond Retaliation
by Kathy Kelly Voice For Creative Nonviolence
This morning, a reporter called to talk about the news that the U.S. has killed Osama bin Laden. Referring to throngs of young people celebrating outside the White House, the reporter asked what Voices would say if we had a chance to speak with those young people.
https://vcnv.org/beyond-retaliation
No tears for bin Laden, but no champagne toasts either, except for Pete Seeger's 92nd birthday!
Kevin Martin Executive Director Peace Action
Osama bin Laden's actions were heinous, so the death of this mass murderer is understandably a welcome relief for some. The endless wars, killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis and Americans, draining of our treasury on same while human needs go begging, torture and "extraordinary rendition," shredding of the Bill of Rights - that's all on us.
https://peaceblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/no-tears-for-bin-laden-but-no-champagne-toasts-either-except-for-pete-seegers-92nd-birthday/
The War Is Over. Kiss a Nurse and Start Packing
Robert Naiman Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy
We got our man. Wave the flag, kiss a nurse, and start packing the equipment. It's time to plan to bring all our boys and girls home from Afghanistan. When the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks rolls around, let the world see that we are on a clear path to bringing home our troops from Afghanistan and handing back sovereignty to the Afghan people.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/afghanistan-war-end_b_856322.html
International law and the killing of Osama bin Laden
By Jonathan Evans Friends Committee on National Legislation
When I first heard President Obama's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. military operation inside Pakistan, I immediately began to wonder about the relationship between international law and the U.S. operation. Questions began to arise in my mind. Questions such as: Did the U.S. have approval from the Pakistani government for the operation? Did the Pakistani military or intelligence agencies participate in the operation? How will this affect U.S. relations with the governments and the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan? And, ultimately, has the U.S. violated international law? I know that I was not alone in my questioning.
https://fcnl.org/blog/2c/International_Law_and_The_Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden/
What do we mean by "justice"?
By Ethan Vesely-Flad Fellowship Of Reconciliation
This week's news of the death of Osama bin Laden has provoked a deep mixture of emotions throughout the world, and for those of us in the self-defined peace and justice community, it feels there are additional layers that are especially difficult to navigate.
https://forusa.org/blogs/ethan-vesely-flad/what-do-we-mean-justice/8721
The US Needs to Focus on Not Creating Any More bin Ladens :
American Muslim Voice founder Samina Sundas on her reactions to the killing of Osama bin Laden
May 3, 2011 - The following is an interview with Samina Sundas, a Pakistani-American activist who founded American Muslim Voice in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. CODEPINK organizer Rae Abileah interviewed Samina on May 2, the morning after President Obama's announcement that Osama Bin Laden was assassinated by US forces in Pakistan. https://www.alternet.org/story/150821/the_us_needs_to_focus_on_not_crea...
Death of Osama bin Laden Makes Peace Groups Ask: "What's Next?"
by: James Russell - Thursday 5 May 2011,Truthout
For Gizella Czene of Van Nuys, California, the celebratory tone surrounding Osama bin Laden's death was eerily reminiscent of the immediate days following 9/11, when, as she put it, "nationalistic belligerent fervor overtook our nation."
https://www.truthout.org/death-osama-bin-laden-makes-peace-groups-ask-whats-next/1304613893
United for Peace and Justice was founded, in 2003, to build a coalition of local and national peace and justice organizations to prevent the War on Iraq. The conflicts raging around the world today make it clear that the need to work for peace remains more important than ever. That is why UFPJ reorganized, in 2008, as a network and now operates with an all-volunteer Coordinating Committee, supported by one part-time staff member who assists with UFPJ action alerts, campaigns, and organizing. They meet weekly to manage the ongoing communication and administrative requirements of the network.
"Consumers all over the world are sick of Elon Musk's attempt to promote dangerous far-right leaders, policies, and movements," said one advocate.
On the heels of the news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's investment of $20 million in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—including offers of $1 million checks to individual voters—didn't manage to swing the election in the Republican Party's favor, the Trump administration adviser's electric car company learned of more trouble: Tesla's global sales declined by 13% in the first quarter of 2025, dropping to their lowest point in nearly three years.
The plunge in sales was evident across markets, even in countries where Musk hasn't sparked outrage by embedding himself into politics by bankrolling and supporting far-right candidates and groups.
In Norway, The New York Times noted, electric cars account for more than 90% of new car sales—but among Norwegians, whose prime minister recently rebuked Musk's involvement in the political systems of Germany and the U.K.—Tesla sales have nearly matched the global trend so far this year, declining by more than 12% in the first quarter.
Sales in other European countries were even more dire in the first three months of 2025—down 41% in France, 50% in the Netherlands, and 55% in Sweden, where consumers have Musk's anti-labor practices to contend with in addition to his political activities in Europe.
Sweden's largest insurer said Wednesday it had sold its $160 million stake in Tesla after investing in the company since 2013, saying Tesla's workers' rights position violates its investment guidelines.
"The American people have gotten a crash course in what happens when the richest man in the world gets the keys to our country."
Musk, whose net worth is $386.6 billion, has long refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement with fewer than 200 mechanics in Sweden to ensure they earn a fair wage. Unionized mechanics in the country have been on strike for over a year.
One Norway Tesla owner told the Times that he "would never drive a Tesla again."
"It's a question of ethics," said urban planner Geir Rognlien Elgvin.
After pouring nearly $300 million into the 2024 elections in the U.S. to help President Donald Trump and other Republicans get elected, Musk has spent the past two months boasting of his push to cut public spending and government jobs—attacking the popular anti-poverty Social Security program as a "Ponzi scheme"; gutting the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other federal agencies; and pushing tens of thousands of civil servants out of their jobs through the Trump-created advisory body the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with government watchdog Public Citizen's climate program, said Wednesday that Tesla's most recent sales numbers illustrate how anger over Musk's activities—which has also been expressed with protests at Tesla dealerships—extends past U.S. borders.
"Tesla's plummeting sales show that consumers all over the world are sick of Elon Musk's attempt to promote dangerous far-right leaders, policies, and movements," said Zuckerman. "They are fed up with DOGE's effort to gut life-saving services and aid. Consumers want electric vehicles, not cruelty, fascism, racism, and neo-Nazism. Unless Musk changes course, Tesla sales will continue to decline."
A poll by Yahoo News and YouGov late last month found that two-thirds of Americans said they would not drive a Tesla, with a majority saying Musk himself was the reason for their distaste.
"Musk is driving our country into the ground," said Zuckerman when the poll was released. "If he continues, he could take Tesla and America's urgent transition to an electric future with it."
Tesla's plummeting sales contrast with global electric car sales overall, which are on the rise. Ford Moter, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are among the automakers planning to soon introduce new electric vehicles.
"Previously consumers might have struggled to find other options than Tesla that really competed," Will Roberts of research firm Rho Motion told the Times. "That's now not the case."
Trump has attempted to shore up his benefactor and ally's company, holding an event on the White House lawn last month during which he praised Musk's electric cars and condemned protests at Tesla dealerships. He also suggested people who are turning away from Tesla are "Radical Left Lunatics" who are "trying to illegally and collusively boycott" the car company.
His administration has since doubled down on threatening people for vandalizing the cars or dealerships, with the president saying he would send them to El Salvador, where hundreds of people accused of being gang members have been sent to a prison in recent weeks.
But despite the show of loyalty, Trump was reportedly considering pulling back on Musk's front-and-center presence in the administration Wednesday.
Economic justice group Groundwork Collaborative said Musk's impending exit—which Trump denied was coming—is likely in response to Musk proving "to be a liability," but cautioned that rights advocates will still have to fight the Trump agenda even without Musk in the White House serving as a "special government employee."
"The American people have gotten a crash course in what happens when the richest man in the world gets the keys to our country," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the group. "Musk's threat to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid has pushed consumer confidence to new lows. Businesses are pulling back on investments, and markets have plunged. Americans can now celebrate Musk's exit."
"But Musk's ouster is only the first step in achieving true liberation," said Owens. "He is a symptom of a broader disease, which is that billionaires are tightening their grip on our democracy. To cure the disease, we must put our power back in the hands of the people."
"We need a leader who will tell a clear story about what Musk and Trump are doing... rally the people and organize in congressional districts across the country, and... engage forcefully and clearly in the media."
Dozen of advocacy organizations on Wednesday joined the growing call for U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from his leadership position after caving to Republicans on a stopgap spending measure last month.
Given GOP control of Congress and the White House, people across the country saw the looming government shutdown as a rare opportunity for Democratic lawmakers to fight against President Donald Trump's agenda. However, Schumer (D-N.Y.) led 10 caucus members in partnering with Senate Republicans to force through the spending legislation.
Since then, polling has made clear that voters are frustrated with the Democratic Party and Schumer in particular, and want political leaders to challenge the GOP's agenda, which is primarily passing more tax giveaways for the wealthy and gutting the federal government—an effort led by Trump adviser Elon Musk, the richest person on Earth.
"As Trump and Musk seek to dismantle not just the key public health and safety functions of our federal government, but also the fundamental pillars of our democracy itself, we require the unflinching, bold and strategic resistance of every single Democrat in Washington—especially party leaders such as Senator Schumer," said Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation at Food & Water Watch, in a statement.
"Schumer's inexplicable surrender and support for a dangerous and cruel MAGA spending bill amounted to a complete dereliction of duty and failure of leadership. For this simple reason, Schumer must step down as Senate majority leader immediately," added Jones, whose group led the letter with Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).
"Sen. Schumer, you have lost the confidence of elected Democrats, and you have lost the confidence of our organizations."
Ultimately, over 50 other groups signed on to the letter to Schumer, which begins, "We write to urge you in the strongest terms to step down as Senate minority leader so that someone more prepared and willing to fight the disastrous Musk-Trump agenda can step up and lead."
Pointing to the shutdown battle, or lack thereof, the letter asserts: "You surrendered one of the very few points of leverage Democrats have to stop the full-scale dismantling of key government functions and Musk-Trump's complete disregard for congressional actions. Further, it was evident throughout the process that there was no plan, no message, and no strategy. We face an existential crisis for our food, water, health, communities, and climate. We simply cannot afford more of the same."
"Trump, Musk, and the Republican Congress are engaging in an assault on basic government functions," the letter stresses. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) "is cutting or eliminating many critical programs that include consumer protection from corporate fraud, clean water and food safety and assistance, education, renewable energy, and healthcare and retirement and access to them including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."
With the spending bill, "is clear there was no strategy around the fight and no communication plan. Frankly, there hasn't been since the start of the Trump administration," the groups argued. "You simply gave your vote and support, receiving nothing in return except praise from Trump. This is inexcusable."
"Sen. Schumer, you have lost the confidence of elected Democrats, and you have lost the confidence of our organizations," the coalition continued. "We need strong leadership to really fight the Musk-Trump agenda. We need a leader who will tell a clear story about what Musk and Trump are doing, who will hold daily briefings with key messages, who will rally the people and organize in congressional districts across the country, and who will engage forcefully and clearly in the media—including alternative media."
"Allow a Democratic senator who can do all these things to step up and lead," the organizations implored. "It's time to do the right thing. It's time to step down as Senate minority leader."
While the groups did not put forth any alternative names to fill the role, PDA executive director Alan Minsky said Wednesday that "we need a fearless Senate minority leader who will seize every opportunity to disrupt Trump's plans. Chuck Schumer has never been a strong negotiator, and his capitulation last month over the budget showed he is not the right leader for this moment. Democrats need a new minority leader—one who understands the stakes and will never back down."
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at CBD, warned that if Schumer remains, "the best Democrats can hope for is permanent minority status in the Senate, the worst will be the end of our democracy, complete ruin of the climate, and the evisceration of all our bedrock environmental protections."
"Booker said that he was speaking in spite' of [Thurmond's] remarks against the 1957 Civil Rights Act." This is a much-improved record, to say the least. Congratulations and thank you to @booker.senate.gov for standing up for democracy!
[image or embed]
— Food & Water Watch ( @foodandwater.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The letter came a day after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a 2020 presidential candidate, broke the record for the longest Senate speech with over 25 hours of remarks decrying Trump and Musk's assault on the government. Multiple Democrats, including Schumer, asked Booker questions, to give him opportunities to rest and shift topics.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who caucuses with Democrats and sought the party's 2016 and 2020 presidential nominations—is in the midst of a "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here"
tour across the United States. Multiple Democratic lawmakers have joined him, including New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who faces mounting pressure to primary Schumer in the 2028 cycle.
Israeli forces also bombed an U.N. clinic in Jabalia, killing at least 68 Palestinians including elders, women, and children—one of them a newborn baby.
Israel's far-right government on Wednesday admitted to a major land grab in the embattled Gaza Strip, where the forced removal of Palestinians accelerated amid ongoing airstrikes that killed scores of civilians, including at least 68 people slain in the bombing of a health clinic run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) renewed assault is "expanding to crush and clean" Gaza while "seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the state of Israel for the protection of fighting forces and the settlements," a reference to plans by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for the ethnic cleansing and Israeli recolonization of the Palestinian enclave.
"Did you decide that we are sacrificing hostages for capturing land?"
Israeli forces control what they call a buffer zone along Gaza's entire border and on Monday ordered a sweeping evacuatione that forced approximately 140,000 Palestinians to flee from Rafah and other areas. In scenes reminiscent of the Nakba—during which over 750,000 Arabs fled or were forced from Palestine during the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948—Palestinian families were seen carrying their possessions or loading them atop vehicles and donkey carts as they sought ever-elusive safety.
Ihab Suliman, a former university professor forcibly expelled from Jabalia with his family, toldThe Associated Press on Monday that "there is no longer any taste to life. Life and death have become one and the same for us."
The fresh wave of expulsions follows last month's creation of a new IDF directorate tasked with ethnically cleansing northern Gaza under the guise of "voluntary emigration." Katz said the agency would be run "in accordance with the vision of U.S. President Donald Trump," who last month said that the United States would "take over" Gaza after emptying the strip of its over 2 million Palestinians and transform the coastal enclave into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Trump has since attempted to walk back some of his comments.
The renewed ethnic cleansing of southern Gaza came amid heavy IDF airstrikes throughout the strip, including the Wednesday bombing of a clinic-turned-shelter run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jabalia that killed at least 68 civilians, including women, children, and elders and wounded dozens more, according to local officials. Graphic video of the strike's aftermath showed a man holding up the headless body of a newborn baby outside the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia.
Gaza's Government Media Office called the strike "a full-fledged war crime," while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged the international community to pressure Israel "to halt its genocide, displacement, and annexation, and impose a political settlement per international law."
Israel admitted to carrying out the strike, claiming it targeted "Hamas terrorists" hiding among the civilians. Israeli policy implemented after Hamas led the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 permits the IDF to knowingly kill an unlimited number of civilians in order to kill just one Hamas member, no matter their rank or role in the organization.
Katz called on Gaza residents to "expel Hamas and return all hostages" kidnapped from Israel on October 7.
However, the umbrella group representing families of some of the abductees—24 of whom are believed to still be alive—on Wednesday accused Netanyahu of "burying the hostages alive" by unilaterally abandoning aa cease-fire with Hamas last month.
"Did you decide that we are sacrificing hostages for capturing land?" the Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked following Katz's announcement. "Instead of getting the hostages out in a deal and ending the war, Israel's government is sending more soldiers to Gaza to fight in the same places that they already fought over and over again."
Since March 18, when Israel broke the cease-fire with Hamas and resumed its assault on Gaza, more than 1,000 Palestinians, including over 320 children, have been killed, and thousands more wounded, according to local and international officials.
Since Israel resumed its terror bombing of Gaza on March 18, every day we see images of small children with their heads or limbs blown off by U.S. weapons. Doctors having to cut holiday clothes off of children in a desperate attempt to save them. Amputations without anesthesia.
— Jeremy Scahill ( @jeremyscahill.com) April 2, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 175,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according the Gaza Health Ministry. That figure includes at least 14,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble. Almost all of Gaza's more than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, often multiple times. Meanwhile, Israel's "complete siege" of Gaza has exacerbated widespread and sometimes deadly starvation and illness.
On Monday, the Gaza Government Media Office said that at least 1,513 humanitarian workers have also been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. It is uncertain whether that figure includes the 15 first responders—including eight Red Crescent workers and six Civil Defense personnel—whose bodies, some of them allegedly bound and shot, were found in a mass grave that day.
Israel is facing an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice, and Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are fugitives from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which last year issued arrest warrants for the pair for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC joined human rights groups on Wednesday in condemning Netanyahu trip to Hungary, a signatory to the Rome Statute governing the world's top war crimes tribunal. Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and other members of his far-right government are set to welcome Netanyahu for a four-day visit underscoring both countries' disdain for international law.
Meanwhile in the illegally occupied West Bank—where thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded by IDF troops and Jewish settler-colonists since October 2023—the UNRWA area director said this week that the scale of forced displacement is unprecedented during the 58 years of Israeli occupation.
This article has been updated to reflect the latest death toll from shelter bombing.