Since the official declaration by the UN of a famine in Gaza City one week ago, Palestinians have endured among the deadliest attacks since the onset of Israel’s campaign of genocide began in October 2023.
Lethal strikes targeting medical facilities are part of the accelerated moves by the Zionist government for the complete occupation of Gaza City. These measures are being carried out in advance of mass expulsions and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, all of which are backed by the US and supported by the other imperialist powers.
On August 25, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest remaining partially functioning hospital in southern Gaza. At around 10:00 a.m., the first strike hit the hospital’s upper floors as journalists and medical staff tended to over 1,000 patients, triggering chaos and panic.
Over the next several minutes, a second and then a nearly simultaneous third strike—now documented in footage by CNN—struck the gathering of rescuers, health workers and additional reporters. In total, at least 22 people were killed: five journalists, four healthcare staff, members of the civil defense, patients and civilians. More than 50 others were wounded, many critically.
Deliberately striking emergency responders and journalists with “double-tap” and “triple-tap” attacks, as described by the BBC and CNN, is a war crime under international law. Journalists killed included Reuters contractor Hussam al-Masri, Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, AP’s Mariam Abu Dagga, freelancers Moaz Abu Taha and Ahmad Abu Aziz.
Despite Israel’s claim of a “tragic mishap,” the IDF justified the strikes as usual by stating that “six terrorists” were targeted and that a “comprehensive investigation” was ongoing that will never produce any findings.
On Wednesday, the IDF formally declared Gaza City a “dangerous combat zone,” meaning a broader ground assault is imminent. The Israeli military’s statement canceled all daily “tactical pauses” for humanitarian delivery and confirmed that “evacuation of Gaza is inevitable,” a reference to the removal of the city’s Palestinian population, estimated at nearly 1 million.
Israeli spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed on social media that “preliminary operations and the initial phases of the assault on Gaza City” had begun, with ground forces operating at the city’s outskirts.
Residents described scenes of widespread panic. Many have nowhere to flee except toward designated “concentration zones” in southern Gaza, which are already overwhelmed with displaced Palestinians.
Israeli leaders have made clear their intentions. Far-right Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich publicly called for the annexation of the entire Gaza Strip, a move Hamas has described as an “official call to exterminate” Palestinians. Israel’s measures are being executed in open defiance of mass international outrage and documented charges of ethnic cleansing.
After more than 10 months of total siege and the systematic destruction of critical infrastructure, the United Nations officially declared famine in the Gaza Governorate, including Gaza City, on August 22, 2025. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed “widespread starvation, destitution, and preventable deaths.”
Over half a million people are trapped in famine, with hundreds of thousands more at risk as hunger spreads into the central and southern regions of Gaza. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated, “The famine declared today in Gaza Governorate … is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government,” including unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid, destruction of agricultural and civilian infrastructure and forced displacement.
UNICEF has warned that deaths from starvation and malnutrition are now occurring “across the Strip,” particularly among children, and that the situation worsens daily. Meanwhile, the Israeli government is disputing the declaration and continuing the blockade and preventing aid from entering Gaza.
As of Thursday, at least 62,966 Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands more wounded since October 2023 in what is now acknowledged by international agencies and human rights groups as a genocide. The true number is likely multiples higher, as thousands have perished under the rubble from continuous bombardment, starvation and preventable disease. These deaths may never be fully recorded.
Amid the catastrophe, coordination by the imperialist powers in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza has been evident throughout. Reports reveal that a meeting was held at the Trump White House with the participation of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, prominent US and Israeli officials, and Gulf State envoys that plotted the next stage of the conspiracy against the Palestinians.
The agenda included discussion of plans to organize the mass transfer of Palestinians—a policy that represents a repeat of the Nakba of 1948—and to “resettle” the people from Gaza into third countries, including South Sudan. Blair’s involvement highlights the central role played by the Western imperialist powers in orchestrating and legitimizing Israeli war crimes.
The US and European governments continue to arm and shield Israel’s actions in Gaza, actively plotting with the Israeli military to execute policies of mass expulsion while feigning outrage over Zionist atrocities. The Trump administration has been at the forefront of this campaign, functioning as the political and logistical arm of the ethnic cleansing operation that has no precedent in world history other than the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
Tony Blair’s appearance at the Trump White House is a warning. Blair has decades of service as an architect of imperialist wars and war crimes. As Labour Party prime minister, he played a pivotal role in the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, justifying the war and promoting the lie of the administration of George W. Bush that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction.”
The resulting military assault and occupation of Iraq led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the destruction of Iraqi society. The World Socialist Web Site has documented Blair’s participation in crimes against humanity, including the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
His transition from head of the British government to “Middle East envoy” for the Quartet (US, EU, Russia, UN) in 2007 enabled him to work directly with the Zionists in Israel to deepen the siege and occupation of Gaza. Through lucrative consultancies and “advisory” roles, Blair has continued his decades-long pattern of enabling and sanitizing imperialist violence under the guise of diplomacy and “peace” negotiations.
The murder of five journalists during the air strikes on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Monday follows the long record of Israeli targeting of members of the press. International journalists’ organizations and independent investigations have documented how Israeli forces have repeatedly used sniper fire, artillery and airstrikes against clearly identified journalists covering the war in Gaza.
The deliberate targeting of media personnel is intended both to silence reports on Israeli war crimes and to terrorize the besieged population.
Meanwhile, according to an investigative report published in The Guardian and cited by others, US troops deployed to the region—including those involved in logistical, intelligence and armaments support for Israel—are likely liable for war crimes committed in Gaza. Legal experts emphasize that American military personnel and civilian planners could face prosecution under international law for their complicity in collective punishment, use of starvation as a weapon and enabling ethnic cleansing.
An orchestrated plan is now in motion to remove the entire Palestinian population from Gaza City and, ultimately, the whole Gaza Strip. Israel and the US are working on the forced relocation of over a million Palestinians to “humanitarian cities” in the south—essentially concentration camps—with the intent to remove them to third countries in Africa or the Arab world, including South Sudan.
The US has mobilized logistical and diplomatic resources in preparation for the expulsion, securing the complicity of neighboring Arab states and international agencies for the Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing. The role played by the Trump White House shows that the destruction of Gaza is not only Israel’s crime but a crime authorized and strategically planned by US imperialism.