WORDS wilt in the face of the fresh murderous horrors being unleashed on the people of Gaza by the depraved state of Israel once more.

Cynically breaking a ceasefire agreement it had itself signed up to, Netanyahu and his cohorts massacred more than four hundred Palestinians today.

As throughout the genocide against the Palestinian people it has been conducting, most of the victims appear to be women and children.

Palestinians, multiply displaced since the start of the Israeli military offensive nearly 18 months ago and who had just returned to their ruined homes, are to be forced to flee again.

And it appears that the Israeli armed forces are additionally targeting government leaders across Gaza in an attempt to behead the Palestinian resistance.

The Israeli government is the immediate culprit for this outrage.  It was clearly unwilling to move to phase two of the ceasefire agreement, which mandated the departure of its troops from Gaza in return for the release of the remaining Israeli captives held there.

Had Netanyahu stuck to the terms of the agreement it might have precipitated the collapse of his government as fascist groups withdrew their support.

That would have left the Israeli Prime Minister further exposed to judicial proceedings against him for corruption.  Palestinian lives are as nothing to him set against these considerations.

He had already ensured that there was no true ceasefire across occupied Palestine as he took advantage of the pause in military action in Gaza to unleash an intensified reign of terror across the West Bank.

And he ordered the Israeli military to block all forms of aid from reaching the beleaguered people in Gaza.

Throughout the aim is clearly genocidal, to eliminate the Palestinian people as an entity and to complete the seizure of their land that began in 1948, if not earlier.

Under this scenario millions more Palestinians would be expelled from their homes with any remaining deprived of all political rights.

However, Israel does not bear responsibility for these crimes alone.  Clearly Netanyahu has been emboldened by the unstinting and unconditional support offered by the Trump gang in Washington.

The new administration has not merely maintained the anti-human Biden policy but actually intensified its worst aspects, militarily, diplomatically and rhetorically.

Let this put an end to the foolish illusions of a few on the left that Trump, based on his self-serving maneouvres to end the Ukraine conflict while grabbing Ukraine’s resources for the US, is somehow a man of peace.

Then there is the full complicity of the British government in the genocide, even now extending to arms sales to Netanyahu and practical support for the onslaught against Yemen because it has the temerity to back the Palestinians in their struggle.

David Lammy was ready to concede that Israel is breaching international law, a fact which has been plain since the very start of the present Gaza conflict.

Yet this belated insight has been swiftly disowned by a Starmer government terrified of offending the Trump thugs.

As principled MP Apsana Begum observed: “Pleading with the Israeli government to stop the carnage, and the deliberate denial of aid to Gaza, is not a strategy the UK government can continue to hide behind.”

Yet that is what Starmer and Lammy will likely continue to do. As Jeremy Corbyn asked, “they wonder why we continue to demonstrate on the streets?”

Street protest is more vital than ever as the slaughter resumes.  Police attempts to shackle it must be resisted and if needs be defied. Our government is dripping with the blood of Palestinian children and it must be held to account.