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ethnic cleansing
Major Gaza Land Grab Underway as Israel's Ethnic Cleansing Escalates
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.
Apr 02, 2025
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.
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Call Your Senators Now: Sanders' Bill Seeks to Block U.S. Weapons Transfers
Pick up your phone. Call your senators. Demand they vote YES on Sanders' resolutions to block these arms sales. Lives depend on it.
Apr 02, 2025
Another moment of truth for Gaza has arrived.
Any day now, the Senate will vote on Senator Bernie Sanders' resolutions to block $8.8 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel – and every single American who believes in human rights needs to flood Senate phone lines demanding support for these resolutions.
Let's be crystal clear about what's happening: Since Israel unilaterally shattered the ceasefire on March 17, over 600 Palestinians have been killed, disproportionately women and children in just the initial wave of strikes. These aren't just statistics—these are human beings, families, entire communities being obliterated with American-made weapons, paid for with our tax dollars.
Whether you just believe in following U.S. and international law when it comes to human rights, or you see this as part of a broader struggle against U.S. imperialism and militarism—or both—this is your moment to act.
The humanitarian catastrophe has reached unimaginable levels. According to the UN, Israel imposed a complete blockade on all aid into Gaza for several weeks, despite desperate daily efforts by UN agencies to deliver essential supplies. Think about that – 40 out of 49 aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities were denied in just one week in March. Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief, warned that food is “rotting, medicine expiring, and vital medical equipment stuck” while children are sick and starving. This isn't just a policy failure – it's a moral catastrophe of historic proportions.
What's at stake in Sanders' resolutions? We're talking about 35,000 MK84 2,000-pound bombs—massive weapons that have already been used to demolish Gaza's hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. The death toll has now surpassed 50,000 Palestinians. And the Trump administration wants to send more of these weapons, bypassing congressional oversight through cynical abuse of "emergency" authorities.
Trump’s Gaza policies are part and parcel of his authoritarian drift: In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked “national security emergency” waiver provisions to ram through these weapons transfers—despite the fact that many won't even be delivered for years. Some "emergency." This is nothing but a transparent attempt to avoid public scrutiny and democratic oversight of our role in this catastrophe.
Simultaneously, Trump’s bizarre “Riviera of the Middle East” plan for Gaza has been repeatedly endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The plan would involve forcibly relocating Palestinians under the guise of voluntary migration, a move widely condemned as ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu affirmed his support for Trump’s vision, describing it as a coordinated effort between their governments. This approach not only violates international law but also exemplifies Trump’s authoritarian tendencies: consolidating executive power to implement policies that prioritize militarism and demographic engineering over human rights and democratic accountability. Together, these actions reflect a pattern of governance rooted in unilateralism.
Whether you just believe in following U.S. and international law when it comes to human rights, or you see this as part of a broader struggle against U.S. imperialism and militarism—or both—this is your moment to act. We cannot let weapons paid for with our tax dollars continue to devastate civilian populations. We cannot allow a wannabe dictator to bypass democratic oversight through bogus "emergency" declarations.
Here's what you need to do right now (the vote is expected any day):
1. Call your senators’ offices immediately at (202) 224-3121. Demand they vote YES on Sanders' Resolutions of Disapproval on U.S. arms transfers to Israel – S.J.Res 26 and S.J.Res 33.
2. Remind them that these are the exact weapons used to destroy Gaza’s schools, hospitals, and homes.
3. Remind them that U.S. law requires U.S. weapons sales to cease when the weapons are being used in exactly these kinds of violations of human rights.
4. Spread the word – share this article, organize call-in campaigns, make your voice heard.
The vote could come any day. UN human rights experts have warned that Israel's recent actions have opened "the gates of hell" in Gaza. Will the United States continue to supply the weapons that keep those gates open? That depends on what we do right now.
So... Pick up your phone. Call your senators. Demand they vote YES on Sanders' resolutions to block these arms sales. Countless Palestinian lives hang in the balance, and history will judge all of us by what we do in this moment.
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Israel Releases Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian Filmmaker Beaten by Settlers
"After being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base, Hamdan Ballal is now free and is about to go home to his family," said No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham.
Mar 25, 2025
Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, who earlier this month won an Academy Award for No Other Land—a documentary about ethnic cleansing in the illegally occupied West Bank—was released from Israel Defense Forces custody Tuesday after being brutally attacked by Israeli settlers and violently detained by army troops.
Yuval Abraham, one of two Israeli co-directors of No Other Land, said on the social media site X that "after being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base, Hamdan Ballal is now free and is about to go home to his family."
On Monday, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Susya in the southern Hebron Hills, injuring numerous residents and activists, according to Palestinian human rights activist Ihab Hassan, who posted video of the assault. Members of the activist group Center for Jewish Nonviolence who went to Susya to document the attack said they were assaulted by settlers who smashed their car windows, punched them, and hit them with sticks.
"The sickening reality is this is what many Palestinians face and we don't even hear about it."
Abraham said that settlers beat Ballal, injuring his head and stomach. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers then "invaded the ambulance he called" and seized Ballal, according to Abraham.
Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker's wife, toldThe Associated Press that she saw three men in uniform beating Ballal with their rifles and another person in civilian clothing who appeared to be recording the attack.
"Of course, after the Oscar, they have come to attack us more," she said. "I felt afraid."
The IDF claimed that Ballal and two other Palestinians were detained on suspicion of throwing rocks during the settler attack. One Israeli was also detained.
Lea Tsemel, an attorney for the three detained Palestinians, said the men spent the night on the floor of a military base and received the bare minimum of medical care.
Responding to Monday's events, Basel Adra, No Other Land's second Palestinian co-director, said that "this is how they erase Masafer Yatta," the collection of 19 West Bank hamlets whose ongoing ethnic cleansing is documented in the film.
The international film industry led condemnation of Ballal's detention and demands for his release.
"Such treatment of an internationally acclaimed filmmaker gravely undermines artistic freedom, human rights, and freedom of speech—core values vital to democratic societies," a Change.org petition by "members of the global film community" said.
The Berlin Film Festival, where No Other Land premiered and won best documentary last year, called Ballal's ordeal "very distressing" in a Tuesday Instagram post.
"It is vital in open democracies that we safeguard the role of journalism and documentary filmmaking and protect its makers from reprisal and violence," the organization said.
U.S. actor and activist Mark Ruffalo, a longtime Palestine defender,
wrote on Instagram: "Every filmmaker and Academy [of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences] member should be acting together in protest. No matter where you stand on this issue this is an attack on our beloved art form of filmmaking. Hamdan Ballal is a political prisoner and this is an international incident and violation of human rights."
"Many of us are not surprised by this behavior from the lawless settlers and the IDF at this point," Ruffalo added. "Kill[ing] journalists and abducting filmmakers is not an accident but a design for the eradication of a people and their culture. Free Ballal!"
Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank including East Jerusalem for 58 years. Today, more than 700,000 Israelis live in over 140 settlements built and expanded on Palestinian land. Last year, the International Court of Justice—which is hearing a genocide case against Israel led by South Africa—issued an advisory opinion that Israel's occupation is an illegal form of apartheid that must end immediately.
Assaults on Palestinians by Israeli settlers, who are protected and sometimes joined by IDF troops, have increased dramatically since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel led by Gaza-based Hamas, with more than 900 West Bank residents killed and thousands more wounded over the past 17 months,
according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
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