March 28, 2025

How Israel is waging war on two fronts

topic:	Genocide
located:	Israel, Palestine
editor:	Nour Ghantous

In Gaza, the bombs are falling again, and from the other side of the border, the walls are closing in. Since it renewed its bombardment on Gaza on 18 March, the Israeli army has killed at least 800 people.

The strikes have levelled entire neighbourhoods and pushed Gaza’s healthcare system - already teetering - past the brink. As of now, the death toll since October 2023 has surpassed 50,000, with nearly a third of those killed under 18. 

At the same time, Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority has launched a quiet offensive inside its borders. Earlier this month, the government created a new body to “identify and remove” Palestinians from Gaza who are living in Israel without residency permits. Though cloaked in bureaucratic language, the move is widely viewed as part of a broader campaign to empty Gaza of its population.

The dual strategy is not new. It’s part of a long-standing system that wages war on Palestinian existence both physically and administratively. But the simultaneity of these assaults - one loud, the other insidious - highlights the machinery of displacement operating on two fronts: one explosive, the other legal.

Framed as a matter of security, the deportations disproportionately target Palestinians who entered Israel seeking work, refuge or to reunite with family. Many have lived in the country for years, contributing quietly to the economy. Now, they are being hunted, detained and returned to a warzone.

This latest move is not just about legality - it’s about deterrence. It reinforces the message that Palestinian life has no place, not even in the shadows. And coming amid Israel’s most devastating military campaign in Gaza’s history, it sends a chilling signal: flee, and we will strike; stay, and we will deport you.

What’s being orchestrated is a regime of removal. Gaza is rendered uninhabitable by bombardment. The West Bank is carved into militarised fragments. And Palestinians who escape this devastation are met with cages and deportation vans.

The new deportation authority was created two days before Israeli strikes hit Nasser Hospital and other healthcare centres on 25 March - already overwhelmed by trauma patients and disease. According to the UN and human rights organisations, the deliberate targeting of hospitals and mass civilian casualties may constitute war crimes. Yet condemnation remains weak. Europe delivers half-hearted rebukes, and the UN calls for a ceasefire, again and again, to no avail.

Meanwhile, the US continues full-steam-ahead in its support of Israel’s military operations. According to a report by the Times of Israel, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that President Trump “fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they have taken in recent days.” Additionally, the Times of Israel reported that President Trump was said to have “green-lighted” the renewal of Gaza strikes. 

Beyond armed conflict, this latest attack is a systematic dismantling of a people’s right to exist - on land, in homes, in law. President Trump has proposed controversial plans regarding Gaza’s future. In February 2025, he suggested that the United States “will take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip. This proposal has been widely criticised and labelled by some as advocating for ethnic cleansing.  

This moment demands clarity. The bombs in Gaza and the border raids in Israel are two halves of the same policy: to fragment, marginalise and ultimately erase the Palestinian people. It is not just about territory. It is about erasure.

Image by hosny salah.