On Monday, Israel resumed its bombing of civilians in Gaza, killing over 400 in a single wave of attacks.

While this aggression marks the definitive end of the January 19 ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in fact, Israel never abided by the ceasefire. Prior to Monday’s bombings, Israel had violated the ceasefire at least 962 times. These violations killed 116 Palestinian civilians and wounded 490. Meanwhile, Israel had reimposed its blockade of humanitarian aid in previous weeks and cut Gaza’s electricity supply, depriving 600,000 Palestinians of access to drinking water. UNICEF warned that Israel’s blockade of Gaza will worsen malnutrition and bring vaccination to a “standstill,” while neonatal units “won’t be able to care for preterm babies.”

It appears the Israeli government has come to the conclusion that it has nothing to gain from even pretending to honour the agreement’s terms. With US backing, the IDF sent bombs ripping through the Palestinian enclave once again, killing hundreds and unilaterally shattering the ceasefire deal.

Gaza’s health care system, previously targeted for destruction by Israeli occupation forces in what the United Nations described as a clear policy of “extermination,” are overwhelmed. An American doctor volunteering in Gaza described “entire families wiped out” by the latest Israeli attacks. An Australian medic in Gaza recalled the horrors: “It was just mostly women and children burned head to toe, limbs missing, heads missing… We’ve run out of ketamine, propofol—all painkillers. We can’t sedate, can’t give analgesia. We intubate, and people wake up choking—no sedation. Seven girls are getting their legs amputated without anesthesia.”

Hamas responded to the assault by saying it “confirms [America’s] direct partnership in the war of extermination against our people.”

The Trump administration took credit for the January ceasefire deal, but now it is openly supporting its destruction. On top of that, Trump launched a wave of airstrikes against Yemen this week, killing 31 and injuring over 100, to defend Israel’s right to commit genocide. The attacks came after the Houthi government threatened to reassert its blockade of Red Sea shipping lanes until Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza. Yemenis responded with huge rallies in Sana’a and continued targeting US ships.

Meanwhile, Lebanon remains in the crosshairs. Despite the signing of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and the IDF on November 27, 2024, Israel has never stopped attacking Lebanon. Between November 27 and January 10, Israel violated the ceasefire at least 330 times. The bombings continue to this day, and they have prompted the UN to urge Israel to comply with the agreement. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers remain in southern Lebanon in flagrant violation of the ceasefire, preventing thousands of Lebanese citizens from returning to their homes.

On top of this, Syria’s newly Western-aligned government has taken a break from massacring Alawites to launch attacks against Lebanon. These attacks have killed seven and wounded 52. Regional war is spreading once more, and this time, Islamist-run Syria appears to be fully on the side of the US and Israel.

While governments around the world express horror and disgust at Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, the nauseating truth is that Washington and its allies approve of these massacres. For the American empire, the war on Palestine is a war on regional resistance. The ultimate goal is destroying the “Axis of Resistance” so Washington can redirect its resources and attention to East Asia, and more forcefully challenge China. The bloody removal of Gaza from this equation is assumed. The Nation laid out this agenda in its explanation of “the Biden doctrine” last year, and in this area, there’s little difference between Biden and Trump.

[The] idea is to have Saudi Arabia and the other wealthy Gulf countries build on the rubble of Gaza, and then have Biden travel to the region for “a victory tour,” where he claims credit for the Israel-Saudi deal as the solution to decades of implacable crisis in the Middle East. One goal of the “Biden doctrine,” as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called it, is to achieve the “global legitimacy” necessary to “take on Iran in a more aggressive manner.” With Hamas out of the picture and a demilitarized Palestinian state under the influence of the Gulf regimes, the thinking goes, the US will have Arab cover in the region to be able to counter Iran… and then put all of its energy toward a confrontation with China.

It is obvious that Israel does not allow itself to be bound by ceasefire terms, the UN, international law, or humanitarian law. It exists in a bloodthirsty state of exception, unrestricted by any law or agreement, its violent expansionism fuelled by ordnance from the very countries that claim to endorse a fair and transparent “rules-based order.” All of this is crystal clear. But as Israeli attacks continue, it is unclear, at least from the outside, how much longer the resistance in Gaza can hold out against this genocide.

Owen Schalk is a writer from rural Manitoba. He is the author of Canada in Afghanistan: A story of military, diplomatic, political and media failure, 2003-2023 and the co-author of Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy with Yves Engler.