A picture says a thousand words. And the imagery slowly seeping out of Gaza tells a story that many politicians and media figures are still doing their best to ignore or obfuscate. Satellite imagery on Google Maps showing the devastated region as of October and November 2024, drone shots of dystopian aid checkpoints, and military maps of so-called “safe zones” make it increasingly hard to argue that Israel’s military “operation” (to use a sanitizing word the media are incredibly fond of) is about eradicating Hamas. This isn’t an operation – it’s a cremation: one with the ultimate goal of eradicating not just Palestinian life in Gaza, but Palestinian identity altogether.
First, though, I want to stress that there still isn’t a lot of imagery coming out of Gaza. This is by design – and something I wish more of my colleagues in the western media were outraged about. Israel has not allowed foreign journalists into the territory since the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, save for carefully curated tours by the Israeli army. It is systematically slaughtering Palestinian journalists on the ground. And it is placing heavy restrictions on foreign aid workers who are let into Gaza.
