It Is Israel, Not Hamas, That Must Lay Down Its Arms and Be Held Accountable!

Israel once again attacked the Sumud Fleet, which was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza in international waters. While unlawfully detaining the freedom activists who had joined the fleet from countries around the world, it failed to kill them and instead tried to sink their boats by spraying them with water.

For two years, food and medical aid to Gaza has been blocked, and children and civilians have begun dying from starvation. Likewise, under the guise of Trump’s so-called aid, dozens of Palestinians—driven by desperation and under the threat of death—have been killed while trying to reach fatal aid points just to obtain a loaf of bread for their children, and hundreds more have been left maimed. Bombardments and attacks continue without regard for any ethical standards (such as safe zones). Thousands of women and elderly civilians—most of them children—sheltering in their homes are being killed indiscriminately, while Palestinian civilians ordered to evacuate are massacred on the roads by rocket fire, sniper bullets, and tank shells. People struggling to survive under inhumane conditions—in the streets and marketplaces, even in hospitals and schools—are being deliberately targeted.

At the United Nations, the genocidal and occupying powers, the United States and Israel, are being favoured, allowing Netanyahu to speak. He openly states that he will continue the destruction of Gaza and kill the remaining Palestinians by labelling them terrorists. (“They made the gypsy a governor, and the first thing he did was hang his own father.”) It is clear that these are not mere allegations.

While many countries at the UN podium reiterate their recognition of the State of Palestine in opposition to the Israeli occupation, the UN has become an instrument of legitimacy for genocide and for the occupying mindset shared by the United States, Israel, and Western powers.

At a time when there is a powerful and just momentum in favour of the Palestinians around the world, it is unacceptable that Arab countries and Türkiye have agreed to a so-called peace plan that in fact serves to legitimise occupation and genocide, effectively handing the Palestinians over to their murderer. Israel’s and the West’s intentions to occupy and annex the Middle East are clear. They do not even attempt to conceal them. However, because they have realised that the world is turning against them, this manipulated plan is buying them time to complete their task—genocide. Reaching an agreement with this unserious and untrustworthy entity (the United States and Israel) without first halting the genocide means being complicit in it and turning a blind eye.

Yet the peoples of the world see what is happening with complete clarity and are demanding an immediate end to this aggression for the sake of humanity’s future. The course of events suggests that this expansionist aggression will continue at full speed, and that Gaza is being used as a testing ground—much like a pandemic.

Under the watchful eye of the media, thousands of children and civilians have been deliberately slaughtered. A people trapped behind walls has been subjected to genocide as a warning to the rest of the world.

The fate of the Mavi Marmara, which had previously set sail from Türkiye for Gaza, is also well known. At that time, nine Turkish citizens were massacred in international waters, giving Türkiye a legitimate opportunity to hold Israel accountable. Instead of seizing this chance in the name of justice, Türkiye accepted compensation and allowed Netanyahu’s government to go unpunished. This decision granted Israel the opportunity to raze Gaza to the ground today.

Yet, during Israel’s initial attacks on Gaza, the AK Party government had secured its political standing and won public favour through large-scale demonstrations. Now, however, the impact of the new flotillas—launched this time with even broader participation—has been reduced to a minimum due to Trump’s plan to complete the occupation.

The Gulf countries and Türkiye should not have supported such a plan without halting the genocide. For the peoples and states of the world had declared their support for Palestine and, by taking a stand against Israel, had affirmed that the genocide must be stopped immediately.

Yet with the recently announced agreement, it is as if Hamas had invaded someone else’s land, committed massacres, and is arrogantly continuing to kill women and children—when in fact, the discussions revolve around disarming Hamas, dissolving it, and having Gaza governed not by Gazans but by outsiders. However, it is Israel—not Hamas or the Palestinian people—that should lay down its arms, be dismantled, held accountable, and punished. Unless this becomes the precondition for any agreement, negotiation, or peace, every step taken is merely a delay tactic or a means of legitimising the Israeli occupation. As long as we do not make them pay the price for the blood they have spilled, the children they have killed and burned, the cities they have razed to the ground, there is no guarantee that these oppressors will not continue to spread all the way to our borders.

If the massacres in Syria—committed by Nusayri, Shia, and Russian killers, akin to dozens of Gaza-style atrocities—go unpunished, and if Israel’s crimes are also left unaccounted for, then words have lost all meaning.

Israel and its strategists will continue to expand, drawing strength from the passivity of Türkiye and the Arab states—and will carry this out, if necessary, by staging coups and internal unrest in Türkiye, just as they did with Morsi, resorting to force if needed.

Agreements declared to buy time and the abandonment of Palestine will not prevent the threats advancing toward Türkiye and Syria. Doesn’t everything happening resemble the stories of Jesus and Joseph being thrown into the well?

For two thousand years, humanity has mourned the fate of Jesus, but forgets the ending of Joseph’s story—where he saved even the brothers who had thrown him into the well.

God’s days revolve and return, reminding those who forget of every fate.