By INTERNATIONAL – Since May 6th of this year, when Israel initiated a military offensive in Rafah as part of its invasion of the Gaza Strip in Palestine, nearly a million people, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), have been displaced, with many experiencing multiple displacements due to ongoing Israeli bombardment, resulting in civilian casualties, displacement, and infrastructure destruction.
Rafah is the southernmost city in Gaza, Palestine. After much of Gaza was bombed, it became the final refuge for around 1.3 million Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocidal war.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between the afternoons of May 17th and May 20th, 259 Palestinians were killed and 391 were injured, with 106 fatalities and 176 injuries occurring within the last 24 hours. From October 7th, 2023, to May 20th, 2024, at least 35,562 Palestinians were killed and 79,562 were injured in Gaza, as reported by the MoH in Gaza. Meanwhile, on 19 May, 31 Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in the New Camp of An Nuseirat, in Deir al Balah. Recently, on May 26, 21 Palestinians died in an air strike on the so-called “safe area” of al-Mawasi, where 13 were reportedly civilian women and girls. The Gaza Government Media Office said Israel dropped seven 900kg bombs as well as missiles on the said displacement camp.
As the conflict rages on, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, with aid dropping by 67% since Israel began its military operation in Rafah, according to UNOCHA. Between May 7th and 28th, Gaza received an average of 58 aid trucks per day, compared to an average of 176 trucks per day between April 1st and May 6th.
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) highlights Israel’s vast military presence worldwide, supported by the United States. “The unconditional backing of the US Imperialists and the lack of international accountability have allowed Israel to continue committing unspeakable crimes against Palestinians and the rest of the world,” said ILPS.
The Philippines emerges as the third-largest purchaser, amounting to $275 million, of Israeli arms from 2018 to 2022. Despite the Israel Defense Forces’ documented involvement in war crimes in Gaza, it continues to provide training to the Philippine Military and police forces.
“The US and Zionist Israel continue to arm the Marcos Jr. regime through these military deals in support of the US imperialist agenda to dominate the region and contain China. Through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the US has time and again used the Philippines as a springboard of waging its aggressive wars in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East,” said ILPS.
“With US imperialism brazenly supporting Zionist Israel’s decades-long carnage of the Palestinian people it remains our duty to resist and forge stronger international solidarity,” the group added. ILPS calls on the Filipinos to join the fight and amplify the support to the Palestinian resistance so they can return to their homeland./PT
