by Daniel Brouse
July 8, 2025
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when genocide in the Middle East began. Some might argue it traces back to the Crusades, when European Christians waged brutal campaigns to capture Jerusalem from Muslim rule. Spanning from 1095 to 1291, the Crusades saw the First Crusade (1096–1099) succeed in capturing Jerusalem, while subsequent attempts to maintain Christian control led to centuries of bloodshed, with Jerusalem changing hands multiple times. Estimates of casualties range from one to three million deaths, with millions more injured or subjected to sexual violence.
Fast forward to 1948: the creation of the state of Israel displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, denying them the right of return to their homes. Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has occupied and expanded settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, entrenching a system of apartheid and control over Palestinian lives.
Gaza Under Siege
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian militants launched an attack demanding an end to the siege and the open-air prison conditions of Gaza, where over two million people have been blockaded for years. In response, under the guise of “self-defense,” Israel launched what has become a systematic ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.
The scale of death and suffering is staggering:
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Total Deaths: As of July 3, 2025, over 57,000 Palestinian deaths have been reported in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. A Lancet study estimated 64,260 deaths from traumatic injuries by June 2024, with later estimates suggesting the toll may be between 77,000 to 109,000, a devastating portion of Gaza’s pre-war population.
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Civilian Proportion: Scholars estimate that around 80% of those killed are civilians. A UN Human Rights Office study found that 70% of those killed in residential bombings were women and children.
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Women and Children: More than half of the casualties are women and children. UNICEF reports over 14,500 children killed, with many more buried under rubble. Countless others face amputation and surgery without anesthesia due to the collapse of medical supply chains, while fuel blockades prevent bakeries and hospitals from operating, driving families into starvation.
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Indirect Deaths: Beyond immediate casualties, tens of thousands are dying from starvation, preventable diseases, and lack of medical care, with one study estimating over 62,000 deaths from starvation alone.
Targeting Journalists and Aid Workers
The siege on Gaza has also been a siege on truth and humanitarian aid:
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Journalists: As of May 14, 2025, 179 journalists and media workers have been killed, including 171 Palestinians, while dozens more cases remain under investigation.
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Healthcare Workers: Over 1,150 healthcare workers have been killed, collapsing Gaza’s medical infrastructure.
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Humanitarian Aid Workers: At least 343 aid workers, including 253 UN staff, have been killed, with numbers continuing to rise.
The Evolving Genocide Under Trump and Netanyahu
When Donald Trump took office, a ceasefire and stable humanitarian aid systems were in place. This changed in February 2025 when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private nonprofit incorporated in Delaware in coordination with Trump, began operations in Gaza. Instead of providing relief, GHF has been implicated in war crimes, using private armed contractors to control aid, shooting civilians, and enforcing a system of starvation as a weapon.
On February 4, 2025, Trump explicitly stated that he wanted the United States to “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip, proposing the relocation of Palestinians to other countries while the U.S. would “redevelop” Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” a plan reminiscent of colonial displacement policies.
Despite an active ICC warrant for war crimes, Netanyahu met with Trump at the White House on July 7, 2025. Publicly billed as ceasefire negotiations, the meeting cemented a policy of rejecting Palestinian statehood while seeking third countries to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza. Netanyahu declared that Israel would maintain the siege on Gaza indefinitely, reinforcing a strategy of permanent subjugation and displacement.
Conclusion: A Genocide in Full View
This genocide is unfolding in real time, enabled by the complicity and direct involvement of powerful leaders. It is not an isolated chapter but part of a continuum of violence stretching from the Crusades to the present, rooted in colonial ambitions, religious zealotry, and authoritarian politics.
To witness this genocide and remain silent is to be complicit. The global community must reckon with the realities of what is happening in Gaza: the systematic eradication of a people, their culture, and their future under the banners of “security” and “order.” This genocide is being conducted in full view of the world—and it demands accountability, now.
Evangelical Christianity and Israel
If you’re curious about the driving force behind US support for Israel, it’s ironically rooted in Evangelical Christianity. Many Evangelical Christians believe they can hasten the “second coming of Christ” by bringing about the apocalypse. According to their interpretation of the Bible, this involves Israel reclaiming Jerusalem, Jesus returning, and ultimately eliminating all Jews. For numerous “Christian Zionists,” especially influential evangelists aligned with the Republican Party, support for Israel is less about political strategy and more about its supposed role in biblical prophecy. In this worldview, war is not something to be avoided but embraced as a divine necessity—an inevitable and even celebratory step toward Jesus’ rule from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The fate of Jews and Palestinians is, to put it mildly, seen as collateral damage.
- Watching Genocide in Real Time
- Militarized Aid and War Crimes: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Deadly Operations Under Trump
- How Bombing Iran Creates the Greatest Modern Threat to U.S. Homeland Security
- Unauthorized and Unraveled: Trump’s Reckless War with Iran Has Unleashed Global Peril
- Trump’s Complicity in Global War Crimes: Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran