Just one of the pages that contians the names and ages of more than 2 000 Palestinian children who have been murdered by the IDF Photo Twitter/X @jacksonhinklle
Gaza – Eight hundred and eighty one families have been murdered by the relentless onslaught of the Israeli occupation The latest figure from the Gaza Health Ministry.
That’s 881 bloodlines severed, families forever denied the chance to thrive, victims of a merciless genocide perpetrated by Israel in their merciless quest to colonise all of Palestine. What is transpiring in Gaza is nothing short of ethnic cleansing in its most brutal form, said Wafa Aludaini, Gaza-based Journalist and activist. The Israeli occupation forces have unleashed a campaign that indiscriminately strikes every corner of the Gaza Strip.
“No one is safe here in Gaza. Everyone is a direct target. They [Israel] target everywhere indiscriminately across the Gaza Strip. Whether in the North or the South. Everywhere there is bombing. Israeli helicopters and drones are always hovering over Gaza … If you walk in the streets of Gaza you can smell the death and the pain everywhere across the Gaza Strip. Families are being massacred while gathering in their homes. They think their homes are safe places for them so they gather in their homes but sadly the occupation war planes target them while they are in their homes.”
The human toll is nothing short of a haunting tragedy, with over 8 000 lives, among them 3 000 innocent children, irrevocably lost. These are not just numbers; they represent shattered dreams, extinguished hopes, and vanished aspirations. Babies are being issued death certificates before being issued birth certificates. Meanwhile, world leaders, of the US and UK are aiding Israel in this genocide, indifferent and unphased.
Depleted resources strangling the life out of those who manage to endure
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens as the days go by. Essential resources become scarce commodities. Drinking water is a luxury, while food supplies dwindle day by day. Electricity, a basic necessity, is non-existent, plunging Gaza into darkness and even alternative solutions are now running out.
“People sometimes use generators which are operated by fuel but in fact also the fuel is dwindling. The occupation banned the entry of fuel into Gaza Strip which put the lives of the Palestinians, not only in the Gaza Strip but also those who are in Gaza’s hospitals. This is like a death sentence to all the patients in the hospitals if we run out of fuel as well.”
Hospitals such as Shifa Hospital, originally intended for 700 patients, now find themselves drowning under the weight of 7 000 injured individuals, victims of relentless airstrikes. The influx of critical cases has swamped medical facilities, leaving those afflicted with cancer, in need of dialysis, or requiring routine medical assistance unattended. Their needs go unanswered, either due to hospitals reaching their full capacity, lack of transportation to reach medical facilities, or the absence of safe means to access essential healthcare services.
My aunt still lies in her bed, lifeless, surrounded by her loved ones. No ambulance can reach her. Her children cannot take her to a hospital because of the relentless bombing.
They can’t burry her. They can’t get a death certificate.
This world has lost its humanity. (2/2)
— Shaimaa Ziara (@ShaimaZiara) October 29, 2023
Aid has been dripping slowly. Yesterday, 50 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza via Egypt but this is not enough.
“All the crossings are closed and even the one which is controlled by Egypt is also controlled by Israel. They couldn’t even allow any humanitarian aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip unless the Israeli side agreed on this convoy to enter … Before these attacks we used to have at least 500 [aid] trucks entering the Gaza Strip. The situation is really so horrible so 500 [aid trucks] doesn’t suit the horrible situation. They just want to strangle the people of Gaza more and more in order to make them kneel and surrender.”
Even the supposed lifeline of humanitarian aid, destined for the desperate, is gripped by malevolence. Last Sunday, Palestinians, ravaged by hunger and thirst, resorted to breaking into a United Nations (UN) food warehouse. Reports surfaced that UN officials had locked and abandoned the warehouse, fleeing South, leaving it stocked with vital supplies. Abdul Rahman Al-Kilani, his voice echoing desperation, spoke to Al Jazeera outside the ransacked warehouse, emphasising that this desperate act was borne out of sheer necessity.
“We have no flour, no aid, no water, not even toilets.Our houses are destroyed. No one cares about us. We appeal to the people of the world. All international powers are against us. We needed aid and we wouldn’t have done this if we weren’t in need.”
The UN ran like cowards and abandoned the people in Gaza city and the north.
The UN left their warehouses full of food and closed for Israeli warplanes to target them.
I stayed at a UN school shelter with the family after Israel bombed our building.
The shelter was…
— Refaat in Gaza 🇵🇸 (@itranslate123) October 29, 2023
No escape for Palestinians
Amidst Israel’s hollow promises of safeguarding Palestinian lives, the haunting truth prevails: while leaflets urging relocation scatter in the North, a relentless storm of bombings engulfs both the Northern and Southern Gaza. A chilling video shared on Instagram by Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian photographer in Gaza, captures a haunting reality: two journalist are on Salahuddin Street which stretches from Erez crossing in the North to Rafah crossing in the South, linking Northern and Southern Gaza. The footage captures a car attempting a desperate U-turn, before being hit by a tank shell.
View this post on Instagram
The Palestinian journalist who witnessed an Israeli tank firing at a car in Gaza on Monday morning provided his account of the incident.
He said that the tank targeted anyone who came close, including a car and a bus. pic.twitter.com/70zkBoLVho
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 30, 2023
Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Wael Dahdouh, entire family was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week Wednesday. His wife, son, and daughter were all killed in the airstrike with his grandson also was declared dead two hours later. According to Al Jazeera, Dahdouh’s family members were killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit Nuseirat Refugee Camp, located in an area of Gaza where the military had encouraged people to go to stay safe.
Stuck under the rubble
While more than 8 000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel, that number could go higher. There are almost 2 000 Palestinians still missing, many feared to be under the rubble of their houses which were bombed.
“Nearly 2 000 are still under the rubble. No one can rescue them. Here in Gaza we just have simple machines and simple materials to rescue the people from under the rubble and because of the lack of fuel, which you need to operate the vehicles and the diggers and so on that help to rescue the people. This thing also affects the rescuing operation and above all the non-stop Israeli bombing across the Gaza Strip actually affects the [rescue operations]. We are talking about more than 1 000 Palestinian kids who are still under the rubbles of their home. No one can rescue them so far, which is a catastrophic situation here. We have infants and babies that are in hospitals without even knowing who their families are or even who their parents are. They just find them in the streets, they find them in fields, here and there because of the massive bombings.”
After four hours, rescue men were able to pull the child Anas alive from under the rubble. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/GJk4n7Qilt
— Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 (@MuhammadSmiry) October 24, 2023
While we may put face paint on our kids, Palestinian parents, gripped by terror, inscribe their children’s names on their tiny arms, detailing their lineage and identity. This desperate act becomes a macabre insurance, ensuring that in the aftermath of bomb-ravaged homes, their little ones, either found lifeless or miraculously spared, are recognised amid the ruins. No one knows who will survive and the lack of electricity means no refrigeration, forcing hospitals to hurriedly bury the deceased in unmarked graves, said Aludaini. Families grieve without closure, their loved ones laid to rest in anonymity.
“If we get killed, then my mother will find our bodies.”
Palestinian children are writing their names on their bodies so they can be identified. pic.twitter.com/5Qsyq8iZcx
— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 27, 2023
This is the harrowing existence of the Palestinians. Their lives hang by a thread as world leaders turn away, their silence amplifying the horrors. The world must rise, voice raw with protest, and demand an end to this relentless genocide. Failure to act could thrust us into a nightmare where an entire nation vanishes before our eyes. We will bear the weight of inaction, haunted by the knowledge that we could have stopped this, yet chose not to.
