Israel’s insatiable bloodlust

After it “withdrew” from Gaza in 2005, the Israeli occupation regime has continued to exercise total control over Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters, and it has never stopped patrolling and monitoring the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip. For a decade now, it has imposed a harsh blockade on the enclave, effectively turning Gaza into the world’s biggest open-air prison. According to a leading rights group, Israel remains an occupying power under international law.

Gaza war of 2008-09 — Israel launched this war against Gaza with a massacre at training academies for police, and attacks on hospitals, mosques, and schools. Condemned worldwide, Israel’s three-week war lead to the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians, with thousands of others injured and major damage caused. Only 13 Israelis were killed.

Gaza war of March 2012: This was another Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, which began with the occupation regime assassinating Zohair Al Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees. More than 25 Palestinians were killed.

Gaza war of November 2012: In November the same year, the occupation regime launched a new war against Gaza, which began on November 14 with the killing of Ahmad Jabari, chief of the Gaza military wing of Hamas. At least 174 Palestinians were killed and hundreds were wounded. The war also caused widespread destruction of infrastructure.

Gaza war of 2014: This was by far the occupation regime’s biggest massacre in Gaza leading to the death of up to 2,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Seventy-one Israelis were also killed, including 66 occupation soldiers. The war was launched on July 8, 2014, and a ceasefire agreed upon on August 26, 2014.