By Alex Rutherford
Netanyahu has broken the ceasefire after he claimed one IDF soldier had been killed in a firefight with Hamas. Trump’s response was, as usual, full support for his friend. “They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back.” Israel’s actions and Trump’s response expose the fraud of the so-called peace deal
Israeli strikes on 28 October hit schools and residential blocks across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 104 Palestinians, including 35-40 children. Gaza civil defence told AFP: “The Israeli strikes targeted tents for displaced people, homes and the vicinity of a hospital in the strip.” Since the ceasefire supposedly began on 10 October, Israel has murdered at least 211 Palestinians and injured over 500. Bombs and drones have been packed with shrapnel by the Israelis to inflict maximum civilian casualties.
Israel’s fascist ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, called on Netanyahu to press on with the full-scale genocide. Trump’s political attention, always easily distracted especially by bling was in South Korea he was being presented with, “the largest and most extravagant of the six existing gold crowns”, and a pledge from his hosts to nominate him for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Meanwhile, despite Israel’s blatant ceasefire violations, US vice-president JD Vance claimed the deal was holding, despite “skirmishes”. Gaza’s Government Media Office has so far charged Israel with committing 125 such violations since the start of the ceasefire.
Israel has also delayed the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the primary entry point of aid from Egypt. Israel halved the number of aid trucks it would allow in, purportedly because of Hamas’ delays in returning the bodies of deceased hostages. These delays are not surprising given the devastation in Gaza – and the lack of heavy machinery to shift the rubble of collapsed buildings. However, Israel will only allow such machinery into Gaza to search for Israeli bodies, while thousands of Palestinians lie in unmarked mass graves.
Meanwhile in the north, most crossings remain closed. On 21 October, the World Food Program reported that it has been able to bring in less than half of the required volume of food aid – leaving the starving population at the mercy of war profiteers.
We have seen no serious criticism of these atrocities by Western governments, let alone international sanctions on Israel – they continue to back Israel’s collective punishment of civilians in Gaza in flagrant violation of the fine (but impotent) declarations of the Geneva Conventions and International law.
Once more it is clear that the only international force willing to oppose the ongoing genocide is the massive Palestinian solidarity movement. In response to the kidnapping of the Global Sumud Flotilla, action spread from the Italian dockers to general strikes affecting all of Italy, and a mass wave of protests took place throughout the world. In Britain, protestors have bravely defied the ban on Palestine Action under the terrorism law, criminalised by Keir Starmer for their direct action against Elbit Systems factories and painting red two warplanes at the country’s largest airbase.
The situation within Gaza remains desperate . The UN has estimated that 80 percent of the territory’s residential housing, and 89 percent of its water and sanitation infrastructure, have been severely damaged or destroyed. Gaza’s pre-war health-care system has been virtually wiped out, with the World Health Organization reporting in May 2025 that 94 percent of hospitals had been damaged or obliterated.
Meanwhile on the West Bank, ethnic cleansing and land seizures go on apace. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, has documented dozens of incidents of Israeli settler and IDF violence against Palestinians, especially during the olive harvest. More than 300 trees have been cut down. “Dozens of harvesters were injured, some requiring medical treatment. Cars were set on fire, equipment was destroyed, herds were harmed, and harvests were stolen. Many reported experiencing significant psychological distress due to the assaults,”. BTselem stressed:
“This is not ‘isolated violence’ but part of a state-backed campaign, carried out with full impunity, to dispossess Palestinians of their land. “These attacks target Palestinian livelihood and their very right to the land and are integral to Israel’s ongoing efforts to ethnically cleanse the West Bank.”
The general pro-Palestine and BDS movement needs not just to keep up the size of its mobilisations but to follow the example of the Italians and win workers in Britain to taking action against the production and transport of anything that supports the Israeli state and its genocide.
