On Palm Sunday (April 13), Israeli bombs destroyed the surgery and intensive care sections of the “last fully functional hospital in Gaza City,” according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The hospital was run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, part of the Anglican Church. The bombs also struck surrounding buildings, including St. Philip’s Church.
The Diocese said it was “appalled” at the bombing of the hospital and church “on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week.”
The Israeli government’s continued cruelty and hatred never cease to amaze, especially its starvation of little children.
Three days before the hospital bombing, the Reuters News Service told the story of Rehab Akhras, 64, who “used cardboard to light a fire and boil a can of beans. It is all they have left.”
“We’re a family of 13 people, what will one can of fava beans do for us?” she asked.
She added: “We have survived the war and we have survived the airstrikes as we wake up and go to sleep. But we can’t survive the hunger, neither us nor our children.”
The Reuters report said the last food was running out since Israel imposed a total blockade of food, water and medicine on Gaza following the end of the ceasefire six weeks earlier. The international organization, Human Rights Watch, has said Israel has been using starvation as a weapon of war, which is an international war crime.
Israel has expanded its killing to between 4,000 and 5,000 in Lebanon, and the U.S. is conducting “large scale naval and airstrikes” in Yemen on behalf of Israel, including bombing civilian residential areas.
The U.S. bombing and shelling is called Operation Rough Rider. Yemen had observed a ceasefire of its own, but when Israel ended its ceasefire in Gaza, Yemen began attacking some Israeli shipping.
As of this writing, Yemen had defended against the U.S. strikes by shooting down 19 drones valued at $30 million, or $570 million in total.
Now, finally, even many people in Israel are getting fed up. On April 4, 1,000 current and former Israeli Air Force Reservists signed a letter demanding an end to the war in Gaza.
The letter said, “The continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, IDF Army soldiers, and innocent civilians.”
The letter also said the war is going on for “political and personal interests.” Signers included the former head of the Army, Dan Halutz.
In addition, 150 officers of the Israeli Navy signed a separate petition calling on Netanyahu to stop the war, according to a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that “hundreds of fighters who served in the past and are still serving” in the Army and Navy “joined the Air Force protest and sent two additional letters calling for an end to the Gaza War…”
These protests occurred just days after Israeli soldiers killed 15 unarmed medics and ambulance workers in southern Gaza. The military first falsely claimed these were terrorists, but then a phone of one of the victims was found, which had recorded the horrific scene.
The Red Cross Secretary General said, “I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians. They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked.”
One of the victims had these last words on his phone: “Forgive me, Mother. This is the path I chose to help people – to save lives.”
CNN reported that another victim, a young man of 21 who was filling in for a sick friend, called his father pleading for help. “Come to me, Dad, help me. We were targeted by the Israelis, and they are now shooting at us directly.”
Now, Netanyahu is pressuring us to go to war against Iran. America First or Israel First? We cannot do both.
Reprinted with author’s permission from Knoxville Focus.
