The relentless Israeli assault on Gaza is not a mere military operation. It is not a “war” in the traditional sense either. What is unfolding before our eyes is the systematic erasure of a people; an ethnic cleansing that the world has seen too many times before but still allows to happen again.
Since October 2023, Gaza has turned into a graveyard for thousands of Palestinians, the majority of them women and children. Homes have turned into rubble, hospitals into morgues, and safe zones into killing fields. Over half the population of Gaza has been forced to move with over 35,000 people dying in the conflict, many of them buried under the debris of their own homes. What makes this situation different is not only the intensity of the violence but the intention behind it. This is not collateral damage, but a goal to shrink the population, move them and erase their Palestinian roots. We should label it as an ethnic cleansing, just as it is.
Ethnic cleansing is defined as the forced removal of an ethnic or religious group from a particular territory with the intent of making the place ethnically homogeneous. Since 1948, following the Nakba, more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes which accompanied the creation of the Israeli state. Since then, Israel has continued to implement policies aimed at reducing Palestinian presence through land seizures, illegal settlements, administrative detentions, and targeted violence. The recent strikes against Gaza reflect the same policy as before, but now it is happening openly, with video records going globally viral, while Israel faces very few consequences, sometimes zero. Can we really close our eyes to what we can see so plainly and painfully?
Israeli leaders have made alarming statements that leave little to the imagination. Several high-ranking officials have publicly referred to Palestinians in dehumanizing terms and advocated for the “voluntary migration” or “resettlement” of Gaza’s population. These are not slips of the tongue. These are coded signals of intentions turned into strategies. The mass displacement of over 1.7 million people from northern to southern Gaza, only for those areas to be bombed next, shows a deliberate plan to empty the land of its native population. Even safe corridors declared for humanitarian purposes have become death traps. Hospitals and schools, many of which are run by the UN, have not been spared. The Gaza Health Ministry and international humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned of a looming famine, yet aid trucks are either delayed, denied, or destroyed. This level of calculated suffering is not accidental, it is a design.
History will judge us not only by what we said, but what we failed to do when it mattered the most. The ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not hidden. It is livestreamed, documented, and undeniable. If the world continues to look away, it becomes complicit in the bloodshed. Let us speak the truth with courage, act with conscience, and stand with Palestine; not just in word, but in deed.
It is disheartening how most of the powerful nations have chosen complicity over courage. Washington continues to provide weapons and diplomatic cover to Israel, blocking ceasefire resolutions and dismissing South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice. Western media often parrots official Israeli narratives, portraying this as a “conflict” instead of recognizing it is actually occupation and ethnic cleansing. Yet, amid this orchestrated silence, people across the world, especially in the Global South, are rising up. From Karachi to Kuala Lumpur, from Cape Town to Cairo, ordinary people are rallying in support of Palestine, demanding an end to this genocide. This global solidarity must translate into tangible action: diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, arms embargoes, and support for legal accountability.
What is happening in Gaza is not only a Palestinian issue; it is a test of our collective humanity. If the world fails to act, it sets a dangerous precedent that might enable similar atrocities elsewhere. We cannot let international law become meaningless. We cannot let another generation grow up stateless, scarred, and silent. Leading voices of the Muslim world and the Global South must play a more assertive role: lobbying at the United Nations, supporting the ICJ case, and leading a coalition to isolate Israel diplomatically and economically. But beyond governments, people have power too. Boycotts, divestments, and sanctions are tools available to the masses. Let us use them.
History will judge us not only by what we said, but what we failed to do when it mattered the most. The ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not hidden. It is livestreamed, documented, and undeniable. If the world continues to look away, it becomes complicit in the bloodshed. Let us speak the truth with courage, act with conscience, and stand with Palestine; not just in word, but in deed.
