Israel burned alive children in tents — again. Now what?

Early Monday morning in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Israeli forces bombed tents housing displaced people at Al-Aqsa Hospital, igniting a fire that killed four people and injured at least 70 others. Footage on social media showed tents engulfed in flames, and people desperately attempting to extinguish the fires and rescue those trapped inside. Families screamed as they watched their children burn alive.

Witnesses described the devastation. Bilal Ezzat Khudari recounted waking to the sound of bombing and witnessing a fire intensified by exploding gas canisters. He saw people being burned alive, including a janitor and a falafel vendor's wife and son.

Because zionist violence against Palestinians has become so normalized and acceptable — particularly within the Democratic Party — rather than lying and blaming the incident on Hamas, the Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed that Israel had carried out this airstrike. This attack marks the seventh targeting of the Al-Aqsa Hospital Complex since October 7, 2023.

In a separate attack, Israeli artillery shelling hit a school sheltering Palestinian civilians in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 22 people including children. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) noted that the school was also intended to serve as a polio vaccination site.

In the Jabaliya refugee camp, Israel targeted a food distribution center, killing ten people and wounding 40 others. Residents reported that the attack occurred as people gathered to collect remaining aid amid a now ten-day siege that has prevented food, water, and medical supplies from entering northern Gaza. During this siege Israeli forces have carried out an escalating campaign of genocidal violence against Palestinians trapped in the north through both an air and ground attack.

We are more than 12 months into a genocide during which the larger zionist movement — which, of course, includes the Democratic Party — has likely slaughtered more than 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza. We need to take an honest inventory of our tactics, our analysis, and our commitments, given that, with less than 30 days until the US elections, we still have formations that are still supporting the Harris/Walz ticket and the broader Democratic Party. This means something — something horrific.

It means something that 12 months into watching the constant horrors Israel has enacted in Gaza, NGO formations in the United States have dogmatically refused to make a public call to mobilize their bases and hold accountable the people who have worked to animate this genocide. We've heard some say that they cannot do this because these organizations might lose their charitable status. However, we point out that many NGOs — Jewish Voice for Peace, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, American Muslims for Palestine — have created 501(c)(4) sister organizations, meaning they can articulate these tactics without sacrificing their charitable status. They have chosen not to do this.

Many of these groups don’t even commit to what is perhaps the most simple and easy version of material solidarity at this moment: uplifting verified fundraising campaigns through which Palestinians in Gaza can meet some of their families’ needs.

While some organizations have critiqued the Biden/Harris regime, this is fundamentally different from utilizing institutional resources to put a strategy of material accountability in motion. It is essential to define accountability because holding people to account does not look like a protest or a gathering to wrap a red ribbon around the White House. It is necessary to define accountability precisely, as actions like public protests or symbolic gestures do not necessarily even move us closer to genuine accountability, but can sometimes do the opposite.

Paradoxically, these activities can sometimes serve the ruling party's interests. By allowing groups to protest publicly, the ruling class projects an image of benevolence and openness to dissent and critique. This can enhance politicians’ and their parties’ legitimacy and public standing — particularly among liberals — as officials appear to uphold democratic values. Consequently, such demonstrations may diffuse genuine demands and energy to organize around accountability while reinforcing the party's position of power.

Material accountability at this moment — while, each day, hundreds of Palestinians are being murdered, starved, brutally beaten and raped, executed in front of their families, denied access to basic healthcare, and burned alive — has to be material. It has to have material consequences, and in the realm of politics, what matters is money and votes.

We understand that, in many cases, there will be backlash when folks bring up these points in their organizing spaces. In liberal groups where accountability, hard conversations, and a true commitment to the oppressed can only come at a personal expense, this will be difficult because, by definition, it's disruptive: it demands an upheaval of existing social arrangements.

We have to address how current movement dynamics have failed the people of Gaza. This means addressing liberalism. Pundits like to position zionism as an exclusive right-wing movement because it obfuscates the way the larger liberal ecosystem is deeply embedded into the colonial project. zionism has always relied on liberalism — often framing it as a socialist movement, one premised on redeeming the land. As liberalism serves to make mainstream the violence of zionism, any anti-zionist praxis must confront liberal thought.

We urge our friends and allies to seriously consider their role in creating a more just world. We know that we all have a responsibility to one another, and that no one can make a meaningful change alone. Without creating space for uncomfortable conversations, a commitment to mutually-held principles, and a firm determination to establish material solidarity and accountability, there can be no real vision of the future we all need and deserve.

As others have pointed out, now is the moment for courage, moral clarity, and an enduring allegiance to each other through material solidarity. Both time and steadfastness are of the essence.