Activists, organisations reflect on two years of horrific Israeli war on Gaza

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, people around the world have protested calling for an end to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and occupation of the West Bank, and for a free Palestinian state.

The protests have become more and more frequent as Israel's assault on Gaza became more deadly and horrific.

The world has now witnessed two years of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where over 67,183 Palestinians have been killed and the fight for Palestinian lives, sovereignty, and self-determination continues.

Activists and organisations continue to call for an end to the Gaza war, and call out the complicity of Western and other governments in the ongoing genocide.

"[The Gaza war] really exposed, for a lot of people, the injustices of this imperialist, capitalist system as a whole, and also the international world order, international law, all of these institutions, all of these norms and we've taken for granted have now been exposed because of two years of genocide," journalist and writer Amandla Thomas-Johnson told The New Arab.

"I think it's really led to a groundswell of energy for change and for a better world that is only going to continue right."

However, Thomas-Johnson emphasised that the genocide is still going on, despite outrage from people around the world. She described the frustration that activists often feel.

"The facts on the ground haven't changed, and people continue to starve, people get mowed down while trying to get food. The bombing continues," Thomas-Johnson says.

"The genocide has accelerated, and ethnic cleansing, the neo-colonisation of Palestine, has just become something that our governments are literally about to agree to.

"It's almost as though we've had no impact on it whatsoever and that's that really is the saddest thing about it, right? That whatever, whatever we've done, whatever we've said, it appears it hasn't really had much of an impact on the actual reality on the ground for Palestinians."

Thomas-Johnson thinks that for many activists, this leaves them feeling very pessimistic and despondent about the future and where it will ultimately lead, expressing her opinion that the best option from a range of bad ones is to have Tony Blair as a viceroy of Gaza.

"That literally is the best option now on the table, if we could even call it that, it's that or a continuation of genocide," the journalist adds.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign have been organising regular marches across Britain, calling for an end to the war and to hold the UK government to account.

"Two years into Israel's genocide it is extraordinary that the British government refuses to accept it is a genocide and refuses to end all military, political and economic support for Israel," PSC founder Ben Jamal, told The New Arab.

"Indeed it is spending more time considering how to restrict protests against genocide than it is on stopping its own complicity with genocide."

Israel has also been accused of committing a multitude of war crimes, including collective punishment, using starvation as a weapon, torture, sexual violence, and genocide over the duration of the Gaza war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Organisations like the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) have been working to document these crimes, pursue justice and advocate for meaningful accountability.

"Two years into Israel's devastating assault on Gaza, the genocide continues with no clear end in sight," Mutahir Ahmed, ICJP's Head of Lega, said to The New Arab.

"The scale of destruction, famine, and mass death - driven by Israel's systematic violations of international law – has rendered Gaza almost unrecognisable."

"The staggering loss of Palestinian life over these two years defies comprehension - and demands urgent global action rooted in the principles of international law and human rights."

"There can be no lasting peace without justice, and those responsible for these grave violations must be held accountable."

As Gaza marked two years of war, and despite peace now seeming closer than ever after US President Donald Trump announced his latest plan, Israel continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, having recently intensified its offensive in Gaza City in an effort to occupy it.

While ceasefire talks are ongoing, the fate of Palestinians in Gaza is still up in the air, particularly regarding whether they will be able to determine their own future or be governed by an external international body.