Israel today issued fresh ‘evacuation orders’ for the residents of what remains of Gaza City, nearly two years into its relentless bombardment of the strip. Planes have dropped leaflets telling residents to 'evacuate' immediately, disregarding the fact that years of Israeli bombardment have left the people with nowhere to 'evacuate' to.

Israeli PM and wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a “mighty hurricane” of attacks, presenting the operation as a continuation of his war on ‘terror’. In reality, this forms part of a longer-term campaign that has already killed at least 64,500 Palestinians since October 2023 and aims to erase Gaza’s population entirely.

The orders come against a backdrop of grotesque planning for a post-war Gaza without Palestinians. Reports in recent weeks revealed that former British prime minister Tony Blair — a key advocate of the Iraq war — has been working alongside Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, to advance schemes to turn Gaza into a “riviera of the Middle East” once emptied of its current residents. It also emerged that Blair had even floated a NATO-Israel ‘special partnership,’ underscoring how Western leaders continue to see Israel not as a rogue state but as a vital ally whose crimes against humanity are to be integrated, not punished. The fact that Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal no less than Putin or Assad is a mere detail for those who’ve had no problem dealing with Putin or Assad when it serves their interest. When the victims are Arab and/or Muslim, Western outrage is muted at best.

This worldview has also allowed Israel to widen its assault regionally. Tel Aviv has predictably depicted its latest airstrikes on Syria and Lebanon last night as pre-emptive defense, while in reality they form part of the same doctrine of perpetual aggression that underpins Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, armed settler militias — backed by Israeli forces — are (once again) forcing Palestinians from their homes village by village. What Netanyahu calls “security” looks in practice like an open-ended project of ethnic cleansing stretching across historic Palestine and beyond. This is a 21st Century Nakba.

As ever, the euphemistic language used by Israel is designed to obscure reality. “Evacuation orders” suggest safety. But Gazans have no refuge left, with much of the enclave already reduced to rubble, its borders sealed, and international agencies confirming that a deliberately instigated famine is escalating. To “evacuate” is simply to be displaced, bombed in another zone, or pushed into exile.

Western powers remain locked in a familiar cycle of mild reproach paired with active complicity. Washington and European capitals issue ritual statements of concern, even as they continue arms sales and political protection at the UN Security Council. While issuing occasional milquetoast reprimands, Britain, Germany, and the US have all reaffirmed their “unshakeable commitment” to Israel’s security, a phrase that in practice signals a blank cheque.

Non-Western powers have fared little better. Russia, China, and Iran have condemned Israel’s campaign, but never in ways that seriously challenge it. Putin isn’t about to risk alienating his longtime ally and fellow war criminal Netanyahu by active opposition, while Xi’s anti-imperialist bluster and condemnation hasn’t changed China’s status as the third largest importer of Israeli goods globally after the USA and Ireland (a subject on which Eire’s government has also remained very quiet).

The parallels with international attitudes to Putin and Assad in Syria are hard to miss. Netanyahu insists his war is against Hamas, but the pattern is of a leader seeking to eradicate an entire people under cover of fighting “terror.” Assad starved and bombed Syrian civilians while insisting he was battling terrorists. Putin razed Grozny and Aleppo on the same pretext. Each time, Western governments either excused or ignored the atrocities, until the authoritarian playbook was normalized as global policy.

Now, as Israel escalates, Gaza City’s survivors face the latest impossible ultimatum: leave their homes or die under the bombs. With Israel having already made Gaza unlivable, Blair and Kushner’s grotesque “resort” fantasy is less a delusion than a blueprint. The rubble and mass graves are not obstacles to be cleared away, but the foundation of the project.

And those with the power to stop this carnage continue passively looking on. Concern is voiced, warnings are issued, but nothing resembling meaningful action follows. Two years into this war of annihilation, Gaza is being wiped from the map in real time, while Western leaders still talk of redevelopment and partnerships. For Palestinians, the “mighty hurricane” Netanyahu is now vowing to unleash on Gaza City arrived long ago — and shows no sign of ending.

Photo: Evacuation notice dropped in Gaza City by Israeli planes ordering the residents to leave