The Israeli government could have freed everyone that was held by Hamas since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, if it had continued the truce and negotiations that were taking place in November and Decemberof 2023. The government has even killed some of the hostages in its attacks on Gaza, using the people it claims to care so much about as pawns, bargaining chips to serve nefarious ends at opportune moments.

One such moment took place on June 8, 2024, when Israeli forces used humanitarian aid trucks as cover to rescue four hostages while also killing an estimated 274 Palestinians . These same forces killed journalist Abdalah Aljamal along with his wife and his father, and then claimed without proof that the family was holding one of the captives in their home.

The entire operation was consistent with Israel’s past actions. It came on the heels of a massacre at a school that killed 40 people seeking refuge there, which came on the heels of an attack on a refugee tent camp in Rafah which also killed at least 40 people.

War crimes are nothing new for Israel, but large scale public protest is new and, despite Israel’s stranglehold on corporate media and the political duopoly, represents a threat to continued support. What is a genocidal apartheid nation to do? It has to continue the........

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