"The most effective action the U.S. could take to halt Israel's genocidal war would be cutting off weapons."
Long line of people fleeing Israeli attack in Khan Younis -- image via video screenshot
By john Queally, Common Dreams
A wave of fresh bombings and military ground operations by Israel were underway in the city of Khan Younis on Friday as images of Palestinian families once again forced to flee plastered global news sites and world leaders, including the United States, refused to intervene to stop the relentless assault being inflicted on the people of Gaza.
Al-Jazeera reports the southern city—which its reporter on the ground, Hani Mahmoud, described as "uninhabitable" and turning into a "wasteland"— was bombed approximately 30 times in "just a few hours" overnight. With evacuation orders by the Israeli military sweeping up and down the Gaza Strip week after week, the internally displaced population is forced to move time and again.
"What we see on the ground is recurrent displacement for many families who just made their way back to their homes," Mahmoud reported early Friday.
With tanks on the ground, adding shelling to the bombs being dropped from the air, Reuters reports how families "fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws as they made their slow escape along congested roads."
Ghazi Abu Daka, one evacuee fleeing Khan Younis, told the Associated Press Thursday that this was was the fourth time he and his family had been forced to flee the city.
"Every day there is war. Every day there are rockets. There is no safe place in the eastern area. Now, we are displaced in the streets and don't know where to go," he said, carrying his son in his arms in the scorching heat.
The intensified overnight bombing came just hours after a joint statement Thursday evening from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt signaled a fresh round of mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas to end the onslaught in exchange for the release of Israeli prisoners still being held since last year's cross-border attack on October 7 of last year.
"There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay," the joint statement read in part, indicating that a framework for an agreement would be the basis for the new round of talks that were derailed completely last month after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, almost certainly by Israel, in Tehran last month.
While French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed news of news talks, posting on X that the "war in Gaza must stop," the United States, under President Joe Biden, has continued to give Israel the green light to carry out its campaign—and provided many of the weapons to sustain it—despite months of presented evidence that the nature of Israel's assault has resulted in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
At a rally in Detroit, Michigan on Wednesday evening, protesters calling for an end to the genocidal assault on Gaza demanded that Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presidential Democratic nominee, commit to supporting an arms embargo against Israel as a way to bring the war to an end.
While Harris suggested a willingness to engage with those interrupting the rally and address their concerns, members of her team later clarified Harris "does not support" such an embargo.
Despite miniscule hopes that fresh talks next week could broker some progress, Drop Site journalist Jeremy Scahill Thursday agreed with those who argue that the "most effective action the U.S. could take to halt Israel's genocidal war would be cutting off weapons."
Jon Queally is managing editor of Common Dreams.
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