On 15 March 2025, thousands of Palestinians were displaced once again and over 400 casualties were reported after a wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza, marking an end to the nearly two month-long ceasefire. Israel blames Hamas’ failure to release more hostages before further negotiations took place for the renewed attacks on Gaza, as well as claiming that Hamas has been preparing for new attacks. However, Israel’s reasoning are not in line with the ceasefire agreement, nor is there evidence pointing to a Hamas offensive. 

At the forefront of concerns in Gaza is the healthcare system, which even throughout the ceasefire was overwhelmed due to weeks of medical supplies and other necessary life saving materials being affected by an Israeli humanitarian aid blockade. According to the United Nations (U.N.) and the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), Israel halted all humanitarian and commercial supply entries on 2 March 2025, worsening food, water and medical shortages and leaving at least 600,000 Gazans without access to clean water. Additionally, between 12,000 and 14,000 people require urgent medical evacuation, with 4,500 of them being children. Throughout Israel’s war, Gazan hospitals, doctors, and medics have become targets to Israeli attacks. A December 2024 U.N. report outlined Israeli attacks on hospitals over an eight month period, citing at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, which the report notes likely breaches international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime.

After the March 15 strikes, health authorities are requesting blood donations, stating that resources of all blood types have been depleted. Mohammad Qishta, a Medicins Sans Frontieres doctor working at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis stated after the attack, “We received no less than 400 cases in less than two hours. There were some serious cases such as burns … third degree burns on the face, amputations, wounds on the head, wounds on the chest.”

The response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, especially their healthcare system, remains woefully inadequate due to the unwavering financial and military support Israel receives from Western nations, particularly the United States. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Israel has cumulatively received more than any other country in aid from the U.S., totaling 310 billion USD since 1946. Since 2007, a memorandum of understanding committed $3.8 billion annually until 2028. Since October 2023, that amount has risen to at least $12.5 billion per year in direct military aid, with some analysts citing $17.9 billion to be more accurate. Without this funding, political backing, and fear of meaningful consequences from Western governments, Israel would struggle to sustain its current level of warfare and as a result, killed and displaced thousands of Palestinians without impunity, despite mounting evidence of war crimes. 

In any war zone, hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international law; the Geneva Conventions explicitly prohibits attacks on medical facilities and the obstruction of aid. However, Israel has continuously violated these principles, targeting hospitals and maintaining a blockade of humanitarian aid, without international repercussions. This exposes a deep hypocrisy within the international community, as nations who claim to champion human rights continue to fund and defend a government that has systematically disregarded them.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has touted unsubstantiated claims of Hamas planning an attack and demands releasing hostages outside of the ceasefire timeline, many believe the significant internal political pressures to be the cause of restarting the war. Members of his far-right coalition – many of whom are ultra nationalists – view a ceasefire and negotiations as concessions to Hamas and advocate for an aggressive and uncompromising military campaign. If Netanyahu were to pursue a more diplomatic approach or agree to a long-term ceasefire, he could risk losing his coalition’s backing, potentially forcing new elections and ending his political career and impunity. 

As a direct result of continuing this war and maintaining Israel’s targeted destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, thousands more civilians will die. Organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have classified Israel’s actions towards the healthcare system as potential war crimes and crimes against humanity, with some experts explicitly referring to them as genocide. The deliberate starvation of a population and the obstruction of medical care are clear violations of international law, yet Israel’s actions continue virtually unchallenged due to the protection it receives from powerful allies. The West’s complicity emboldens Israel, reinforcing the idea that it can act without restraint or consequence. Specifically, the United States’ veto power at the U.N. Security Council has shielded Israel from accountability, ensuring that resolutions condemning its actions are repeatedly blocked. This pattern of unconditional support allows Israel to persist in its aggressive policies, intensifying the suffering of Palestinian civilians and raising the death toll. Until Western governments stop funding and enabling these atrocities, and until Israeli politics no longer reward perpetual war, no amount of diplomatic statements or superficial aid efforts will bring meaningful change or peace.

The ongoing violence in Gaza does not exist in isolation. It is the result of decades of systemic oppression, occupation, and the deliberate denial of Palestinian self-determination. The West’s long-standing support of Israel’s military campaign can be boiled down to settler colonialism politics in the 20th century that disenfranchises Palestinians and empowers the West and has continued into the present day. The attacks on October 7th were undeniably tragic – nearly 1,200 Israelis were murdered, with many being civilians. It is also crucial to understand why such levels of violence occurred. This is not to justify the loss of innocent lives, but to contextualize the broader struggle. Palestinians have been resisting Israeli occupation and Western complicity since 1947, and before that, British colonialism. The cycle of violence in Palestine will continue until the world stops treating events such as October 7th as isolated incidents rather than symptoms of a deeply entrenched system of apartheid and colonial control. 

One of the most urgent steps forward must be an immediate, internationally enforced protection of Gaza’s medical infrastructure. The ongoing blockade on humanitarian aid has left thousands of patients without the ability to receive life saving treatment. The international community’s failure to intervene meaningfully has allowed the mass death of civilians due to preventable conditions, a direct violation of international law that many experts classify as genocide. Governments that continue to fund Israel’s military while ignoring the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza are not bystanders, they are complicit. Western nations must withhold military aid until Israel agrees to unrestricted humanitarian access rather than issuing empty condemnations without action. 

However, these governments have made it clear that they will not take meaningful action against Israel’s war crimes unless they are forced to do so by public pressure. Mass protests have erupted across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and beyond, with citizens demanding an end to military aid to Israel and calling for justice for Palestinian victims. In response, the Trump administration has intensified efforts to suppress pro-Palestinian activism, particularly on university campuses and notably at Columbia University, who agreed to ban protest masks, increase police presence, and place some departments under oversight. Meanwhile, Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil faces deportation due to being active at these protests, despite being a legal resident and having no criminal charges. These crackdowns aim to silence activism but also reflect its growing impact. Universities, labor unions, and pension funds have already begun divesting from companies complicit in Israel’s war crimes, and these efforts must continue to grow. Further, direct action like mass demonstrations, student walkouts, and labor strikes should be organized to increase pressure on the government to respond to its citizens, who are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the U.S.’s role in supporting the conflict, according to Pew Research and Gallup polls. 

It is also important to address the news media’s coverage of the destruction in Gaza and its healthcare system. Often, reports frame incidents as something that happened to Palestinians, without assigning responsibility. For example, a 2024 BBC headline reads, “Hind Rajab, 6, is found dead in Gaza after phone calls for help,”, which fails to address the full context: Hind and her family were fleeing Israeli bombardments when they were likely killed by gunfire and shelling, alongside responding paramedics. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (P.R.C.S.) confirmed the deaths were the result of intentional Israeli targeting, as their paramedics’ communications were also cut off by Israeli fire while trying to reach the family. This passive language, which portrays victims as inevitable casualties, overlooks the direct role of Israeli military actions in the deaths and downplays the urgency of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Journalists must use more precise language to accurately reflect the situation, ensuring that the human toll is not minimized or dehumanized. Additionally, accurate coverage of doctors, patients, and families suffering under these conditions can help the public understand that this is not just a military conflict, but a catastrophic humanitarian disaster.

The world has seen this pattern before: oppressive regimes rely on international complicity and public apathy to continue their crimes. But with collective demands for accountability and change, even the most powerful government can be pressured to comply. The fight for Palestinian liberation is not about stopping one war– it is about dismantling a system of oppression and ending generational cycles of violence.