Israel's 'Righteous Conquest': How We Normalized a Live-Streamed Genocide

19 Months of Siege, 61,700 Dead, and Now a New Operation to 'Conquer' What Remains of Gaza

Israel has launched the "initial stages" of what it calls "Operation Gideon's Chariots," a new offensive explicitly aiming to expand control over Gaza. There's nothing subtle about it. They've dropped leaflets depicting "a Biblical scene of the sea parting and engulfing destroyed buildings in the Strip, with a Star of David insignia" and the words "righteous conquest." This isn't policy veiled in diplomatic language – it's genocide broadcast in real time.

Since Friday alone, Israel has killed at least 200 Palestinians, with thousands forced to flee their homes amid intensified bombardment. But this is just the latest chapter in 19 months of systematic destruction. 70% of Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed. An average of 30 Palestinian children have been killed daily over the past 584 days.

The statistics only grow more horrific: 53,119 Palestinians killed and 120,214 wounded, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The toll rises to more than 61,700 when accounting for those presumed dead under rubble. More than 19,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Thursday afternoon, with the IOM reporting "many with nothing but the clothes on their backs."

Children bear the heaviest burden. The UN confirms that at least 100 children have been killed or injured every single day since Israel resumed its offensive in March. According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, 57 people, mostly children, have already starved to death under the blockade. At least 10,000 cases of child malnutrition have been documented, with more than 1,400 classified as severe acute malnutrition – their bodies literally wasting away.

Since March, the total blockade has cut off ALL food, fuel, and medicine from reaching more than two million people. Israel hasn't just blocked aid – it has systematically destroyed Gaza's capacity to sustain itself. Farmland razed. Fishing boats bombed. Bakeries shuttered. Water systems contaminated. The siege has created conditions that make life itself impossible.

The UN reports that 96% of Gazans face high levels of acute food insecurity, with 22% facing catastrophic levels. Half a million people face immediate forced starvation as the blockade continues into its third month. Humanitarian aid, including food, is being used as a weapon of war. UN officials clearly describe this as "deliberate imposing of inhumane conditions" on Gaza's civilians.

Healthcare has collapsed completely. WHO reports 516 attacks on health facilities and ambulances, killing 765 patients and medics. Only 17 of 36 hospitals remain even partially functional. In 36 verified airstrikes, only women and children were found beneath the rubble – not fighters, not military targets, just families.

What makes this genocide particularly chilling is its transparency. Israel is no longer hiding its intentions. As Netanyahu stated last week, "the logical result will be the desire of Gaza residents to leave." Defense Minister Israel Katz openly admitted their strategy includes "destroying infrastructure, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid, and promoting voluntary transfer."

This isn't spontaneous policy-making. It's the culmination of a methodical plan implemented over 18 months. The "Generals' Plan" to depopulate northern Gaza through siege and starvation has evolved into a more explicit strategy of ethnic cleansing disguised as "voluntary migration."

In March, the Israeli Defense Ministry approved the creation of a special bureau to promote the expulsion of Palestinians. In April, they carved out the "Morag Corridor," cutting off Rafah from the rest of Gaza and reducing the territory by a fifth. Every step is calculated, every action deliberate.

The international community's response has been worse than inadequate – it's been complicit. When Israel invaded Rafah a year ago, crossing what Biden once called a "red line," there were no consequences. When they established a special bureau to promote Palestinian expulsion, international outrage translated into no concrete action.

According to NBC, the Trump administration is now working on a plan to permanently relocate one million Palestinians to Libya in exchange for lifting sanctions. Far from opposing genocide, world powers are facilitating it.

Meanwhile, as millions of Palestinians flee with whatever belongings they can carry, many say the same thing: "Nowhere is safe in Gaza."

Perhaps most disturbing is how normalized this slaughter has become. Speaking out against the killing of children and the deliberate starvation of an entire population is now branded as extreme or divisive. We have reached a point where calling for a ceasefire is met with more skepticism than dropping white phosphorus on civilian populations.

The pattern is clear: Israel has turned two-thirds of Gaza into a "no-go zone." There is no electricity. No medicine. No clean water. The siege doesn't just kill – it prevents life from beginning. As 12-year-old Rahaf Ayyad said, she now "feels pain in her bones every day" with no treatment available. Comparing photos of herself before the war, she often cries at her current state – living evidence that starvation is being used to kill Gaza's children.

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence stated, "We urge all parties, including third states with direct influence, to stop the assault." Yet this plea, like countless others, seems destined to echo into the void.

If this is not genocide, what is? The harrowing facts leave no room for doubt: Gaza today bears the scars of a deliberate campaign to eliminate the Palestinian people through bombardment, starvation, and expulsion. The world stands by, watching a genocide in plain sight, unwilling or unable to stop what history will surely judge as one of the greatest moral failures of our time.

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