This August, the Zionist state of Israel declared its plan to directly occupy the entire Gaza Strip after nearly two years of brutal genocidal bombings against the Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved the plan in its August 7-8 meeting. A few weeks earlier, the Israeli parliament also called for the occupation of the entire West Bank.

These measures mark a new stage in intensifying the US-Israel genocide with the aim of annihilating the Palestinian people.

Netanyahu is pushing for Israel’s occupation of Gaza amid growing Israeli outrage against his government, because of its failure to recover the prisoners held by the Palestinian group Hamas and because of its brutality against the Palestinians. Series of massive protests have erupted, as more and more young Israelis refuse military drafting as a protest against the genocide.

The Zionist regime is now widely despised by countless nations and peoples. Since it escalated its genocidal campaign, millions of people all over the world have carried out actions and mobilizations to stand for the liberation of Palestine.

Israeli forces already control almost 90% of Gaza’s territory. Only Gaza City and the refugee camps in central Gaza remain. Two million Palestinians are crammed into these areas, where they endure daily bombings and assaults, extreme hunger, and abject poverty.

According to the plan, Palestinians will have until October 7, the day marking the second year Israel began its attacks, to evacuate Gaza City, the enclave’s largest city. The Zionist military will then launch a large-scale assault on the city and other parts of Gaza not yet occupied. The plan allegedly aims to eliminate Hamas, end the war, and “deliver humanitarian aid” to civilians.

Filipino groups denounced this plan as “heinous.” Groups in various countries, international institutions, and ordinary people also condemned the plan.

Since March, Israel has absolutely banned the delivery and distribution of aid. Only the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF),” jointly operated by US and Israeli military forces, has been permitted to distribute food. Israeli soldiers have willfully killed at least 859 Palestinians queued at GHF distribution sites. They add to those who died while scrambling for the meager food rations.

Hunger in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels. Some 210 Palestinians, mostly children, have died of starvation. Just this July, 74 died from malnutrition, many already bedridden, including children under five. They add to over 60,000 directly killed and 150,000 wounded by Israel’s bombings and assaults during the 22-month genocide. Many countries have condemned US and Israel for weaponizing food to suppress the Palestinian people’s fighting spirit.

Israel continues to relentlessly bomb and assault Gaza Strip. On August 10, US-Israel bombings killed journalist Anas al-Sharif, together with another Al Jazeera correspondent, Mohammed Qreiqeh, and their camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa.

This constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, which considers journalists as protected individuals in armed conflicts. Since 2023, US-Israel has willfully killed more than 200 journalists in Gaza.