- Gaza: Genocide
Since October 2023, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a relentless and calculated Israeli military campaign that has resulted in unprecedented levels of death, destruction, starvation, and displacement. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated, targeting civilians indiscriminately and in violation of international humanitarian law.
The Israeli military has carried out continuous bombardments across Gaza, deploying an estimated 70,000 tonnes of explosives, a figure surpassing the scale of the Allied carpet bombing of Dresden during World War II and nearly six times the explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima[1].
Israeli soldiers have deliberately fired upon unarmed Palestinian civilians, including those gathered to receive humanitarian aid. Orders to use unnecessary lethal force have reportedly come from commanding officers. Troops were told to fire at crowds of Palestinians posing no threat[2].
As of June 2025, over 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with more than 133,000 sustaining injuries, the majority of them women and children[3]. According to an updated death registry released by the Ministry of Health, the first 11 pages – listing 486 names – contain only children under six months old. Over 381 pages are dedicated to children under the age of 18. This includes eight infants killed on the day of their birth and dozens more who survived only a day or two[4].
However, independent research indicates that the actual death toll is significantly higher. A study led by Professor Michael Spagat of the Holloway College at the University of London, in collaboration with local researchers, surveyed 2,000 households (nearly 10,000 individuals) and estimated that 75,200 people had died violent deaths in Gaza by January 2025, approximately 40% higher than official figures. The study also found that 56% of those killed were women and children, making this one of the most civilian-heavy death tolls of any conflict in the 21st century, about 4% of the territory’s population[5].
Israel’s blockade and destruction of food systems in Gaza has engineered the largest preventable famine in modern history[6]. More than 66 children have died from malnutrition and starvation[7], at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and over 4,000 Palestinians have been wounded while attempting to receive food aid[8].
Humanitarian organizations have harshly criticized the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a distribution mechanism backed by Israel and the United States. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described the scheme as “slaughter masquerading as aid[9],” while UNRWA labeled it a “death trap.[10]”
During the 12-day Israel-Iran confrontation, while international attention was diverted, Israeli forces intensified their attacks on Gaza. Over 800 Palestinians were killed during that period alone[11].
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, as of April 2025, over 39,000 children in Gaza had lost one or both parents due to Israeli aggression. Of these, 17,000 children were fully orphaned, marking the largest orphan crisis in modern history[12]. Gaza also now has the highest number of child amputees in any modern conflict[13].
Despite clear violations of international law, Israel’s campaign in Gaza continues undeterred. The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued provisional measures ordering Israel to prevent genocide and address the humanitarian crisis. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Furthermore, Israel currently faces a genocide case at the ICJ, brought forward in response to its actions in the enclave.
- The Occupied West Bank: Expansion, Displacement, and Settler Terrorism
The situation in the occupied West Bank has deteriorated sharply since late 2023, marked by a systematic Israeli campaign of territorial annexation, settler violence, forced displacement, and demolition. These actions, conducted in coordination between settlers and the Israeli military, are part of a broader strategy to entrench occupation and fragment Palestinian society, while obstructing the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
On 25 June 2025, Israeli settlers carried out a violent attack in the town of Kufr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, killing three Palestinians[14]. In a related incident, another settler group attacked a home at the entrance to the neighboring Christian village of Taybeh, setting fire to a vehicle and the surrounding area of a rural residence[15]. These acts are part of a sustained campaign of settler pogroms sweeping across the West Bank.
Since October 7, 2023, following public encouragement from Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who filmed himself distributing firearms to settlers[16], settler attacks have intensified dramatically. The Israeli Knesset’s National Security Committee confirmed in November 2023 that settlers in the West Bank were in possession of 165,000 firearms[17], with regulations for gun ownership significantly relaxed under the current government[18].
Since 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 wounded in the West Bank by Israeli settlers and military forces. 3,844 Palestinian structures, including 1,376 homes, have been demolished, as part of what human rights groups describe as a state-backed policy of forced displacement and land appropriation[19].
A massive Israeli military operation launched on 21 January 2025 in the northern West Bank continues into its sixth month. The offensive has targeted refugee camps – Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams – resulting in the forced displacement of approximately 40,000 Palestinians[20]. This operation has been characterized by widespread destruction, curfews, home invasions, and the militarization of civilian spaces.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
- Between 13 and 23 June, Israeli forces took control of at least 240 Palestinian homes, either inhabited or uninhabited, and converted them into military outposts and interrogation centers.
- Residents were forcibly removed, often without warning or the ability to retrieve belongings.
These acts constitute clear violations of international humanitarian law, including protections afforded to civilians under occupation.
The Israeli authorities have issued demolition orders against 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. If carried out, the right to education of approximately 13,000 Palestinian students – more than 6,500 of whom are girls[21] – will be gravely jeopardized.
Simultaneously, the closure of checkpoints and the erection of new barriers – earth mounds, road gates, and concrete blocks – have severely restricted Palestinian mobility, particularly following the June 2025 escalation with Iran. These restrictions have impacted daily life, economic activity, access to healthcare, and other essential services.
So far in 2025, 898 structures have been demolished in the West Bank, displacing more than 1,199 Palestinians[22].
The current Israeli government, in power since December 2022, has overseen an unprecedented acceleration of settlement activity:
- 49 new official settlements have been approved.
- 7 illegal outposts are undergoing formal legalization as “neighborhoods.”
- In February 2023, 9 settlements were established and an additional outpost legalized.
- In June 2024, 5 more outposts were legalized as new settlements.
- In March 2025, 13 previously unrecognized settlements were formally designated as independent entities.
Most recently, the Israeli Cabinet approved the largest expansion of settlements since the Oslo Accords, announcing plans to establish 22 new settlements in June 2025 alone[23]. These moves directly contravene international law and Israel’s own commitments under previous agreements, and reflect a de facto policy of annexation.
In parallel with settlement expansion, the Israeli government has begun constructing underground tunnels designed to restrict Palestinian movement and sever geographic contiguity in the West Bank. Under the so-called “Fabric of Life” project[24], Palestinians from the southern governorates of Bethlehem and Hebron will be forced to pass through a tunnel to reach the central and northern West Bank, bypassing the area east of Jerusalem.
This infrastructure plan, expected to cost $90 billion and funded in part through the illegal appropriation of Palestinian tax revenues[25], will effectively isolate Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley for exclusive Israeli use. The goal is clear: to remove Palestinian presence around Jerusalem and ensure Israeli-only access to vast areas of occupied territory.
In March 2025, the Israeli Cabinet approved the establishment of a “Voluntary Emigration Administration” to facilitate the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and other parts of the occupied territories[26]. This initiative, coupled with policies of dispossession, home demolitions, and settler violence, has led to a sharp increase in Palestinian migration, including among Christian communities[27], who face growing movement restrictions and threats to their places of worship.
Furthermore, the June 2024 decisions to begin demolishing Palestinian homes in Area B[28] – territory that, under signed agreements, falls under Palestinian administrative control and constitutes approximately 22% of the West Bank – represent a serious breach of established accords. This move reveals the true intentions of the current Israeli government: to dominate and subjugate the Palestinian people, in total disregard of signed agreements, and to eliminate any remaining prospects for an independent Palestinian state.
III. Occupied Jerusalem: Judaization
For decades, the Israeli occupation authorities have pursued a concerted and strategic campaign to alter the demographic, cultural, and religious character of occupied Jerusalem, seeking to sever it from its Palestinian surroundings and consolidate exclusive Israeli control. This policy is designed to transform the city’s identity by imposing an Israeli-Jewish majority through a series of colonial, legal, and administrative measures.
Central to this strategy is the construction of the Annexation Wall, which physically disconnects Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank. Coupled with the proliferation of illegal Israeli settlements, the establishment of military checkpoints, a discriminatory permit system, and land confiscations, these actions are intended to forcibly reduce the Palestinian presence in the city while facilitating the expansion of Jewish Israeli population centers.
The result is a heavily securitized and segregated urban environment in which Palestinian movement, development, and residence are severely restricted.
Religious freedoms in Jerusalem have come under increasing assault, particularly during religious holidays when Christian and Muslim worshippers face systematic Israeli restrictions and harassment.
- During Holy Week, Palestinian Christians were subjected to a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and access denial by Israeli forces. Worshippers were blocked from entering the Old City, corralled behind barricades, and physically assaulted[29] under the pretext of “security”. Easter celebrations were repeatedly disrupted by Israeli police, in contravention of international guarantees on religious freedom.
- During the Israel-Iran confrontation in June 2025, Israeli authorities closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre[30] and threatened local business owners in the
- Christian Quarter with fines of 5,000 shekels (approx. $1,435) if they refused to close[31].
Palestinian Muslims also face increasingly harsh restrictions at Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites. These include:
- Limitations on access for Palestinian worshippers, particularly on Fridays and religious holidays.
- Regular incursions by Israeli settlers, often led by far-right figures such as Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, under military protection.
- In May 2025, 6,767 Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound, accompanied by 5,611 more under the guise of tourism, performing religious rituals in violation of the historic and legal status quo[32].
- During the Israel-Iran escalation, Israeli authorities sealed off the Al-Aqsa Mosque, limiting Friday worshippers to fewer than 500 Palestinians[33], a mere fraction of usual attendance.
These acts represent an intensifying effort to alter the religious and cultural character of Jerusalem, and assert full Israeli sovereignty over religious sites.
The Israeli government continues to weaponize urban planning laws to displace Palestinians and confiscate their land, particularly in areas targeted for settlement expansion.
- In the town of Silwan, over 7,000 demolition orders have been issued, including approximately 116 in the Al-Bustan neighborhood. These orders place the homes and livelihoods of nearly 60,000 Palestinians at imminent risk[34].
- These demolitions serve as a tool to clear strategic areas of Palestinian residents and pave the way for further Israeli colonization and tourist infrastructure linked to Jewish heritage projects.
In addition to physical repression, Israeli authorities have sought to undermine the presence and operations of Christian institutions in Jerusalem through illegal taxation policies.
- The Jerusalem Municipality has imposed new taxes on church properties, violating longstanding agreements and the historical status quo that has governed the relationship between religious institutions and the state.
- Heads of Churches in the Holy Land have protested these measures as a direct threat to their ability to function and a deliberate act of pressure aimed at reducing Christian institutional presence in the city[35].
[1] https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2025/gaza-bombing-equivalent-to-six-hiroshimas-says-bradford-world-affairs-expert.php
[2] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-27/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-soldiers-ordered-to-shoot-deliberately-at-unarmed-gazans-waiting-for-humanitarian-aid/00000197-ad8e-de01-a39f-ffbe33780000
[3] https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/158814
[4] MoH Data
[5] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-26/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/100-000-dead-what-we-know-about-gazas-true-death-toll/00000197-ad6b-d6b3-abf7-edfbb1e20000
[6] https://www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-releases/reaction-oxfam-response-to-the-gaza-ipc-hunger-figures/
[7] https://www.newarab.com/news/malnutrition-kills-66-children-gaza-due-israeli-siege
[8] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/27/israeli-soldiers-ordered-to-shoot-at-unarmed-gaza-aid-seekers-report
[9] https://msf.org.uk/article/gaza-israeli-us-distribution-scheme-slaughter-masquerading-humanitarian-aid
[10] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-gaza-war-unrwa-calls-us-backed-ghf-a-death-trap/?utm_source=General+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=f8e9e7020d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_19_08_26_COPY_45&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-858337b7dd-82758935
[11] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-27/hundreds-killed-in-gaza-amid-israel-iran-war/105466200
[12] https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/post.aspx?lang=en&ItemID=5965
[13] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250326-un-gaza-has-largest-number-of-child-amputees-in-modern-history/
[14] https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/general-strike-in-ramallah-after-israeli-settler-rampage-kills-three-palestinians/
[15] https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Four-Palestinians-dead-in-settler-violence,-Christian-village-of-Taybeh-also-attacked-63379.html
[16] https://x.com/MiddleEastMnt/status/1716787045392093594
[17] IBID
[18] https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10916
[19] IBID
[20] https://palestine.un.org/en/297039-un-rights-office-sounds-alarm-over-forced-displacement-west-bank
[21] IBID
[22] IBID
[23] https://peacenow.org.il/en/cabinet-decision-22-settlements
[24] https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/israel-is-building-a-tunnel-to-cut-off-palestinians-from-the-heart-of-the-west-bank/?ml_recipient=158090130530240061&ml_link=158090093862585937&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-06-25&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation
[25] IBID
[26] https://gisha.org/en/forced-transfer-civil-orgs/
[27] https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/christians-face-extinction-amid-israeli-assaults-palestinian-pastor/3544310
[28] https://peacenow.org.il/en/israeli-government-assumes-authorities-of-the-palestinian-authority-in-area-b
[29] https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/156588
[30] https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/158712#:~:text=10%3A31%20AM-,Israel%20reopens%20Church%20of%20the%20Holy%20Sepulchre%20in%20Jerusalem%20after,heightened%20military%20tensions%20with%20Iran.
[31] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-22/ty-article/.premium/police-close-jerusalem-old-city-businesses-due-to-the-war-but-not-in-the-rest-of-the-city/00000197-981a-db6f-a9ff-bb7e21780000
[32] https://www.jerusalemgov.ps/ar/File/6ce43y446019Y6ce43/%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%B1-%D8%A3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1–2025
[33] https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/158700
[34] https://www.mofa.pna.ps/en-us/mediaoffice/ministry-of-foreign-affairs-and-expatriates-calls-for-urgent-international-action-to-halt-demolition-orders-in-silwan-and-al-bustan-neighborhood-of-occupied-jerusalem
[35] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-02/church-in-jerusalem-taxation.html
