Over the past two months, 2.3 million people in the region have been forced to abandon all they've ever owned in a quest for shelter from the ceaseless onslaught of Israeli airstrikes.
With safe havens depleted in the enclave, individuals continue their day-to-day existence under the constant shadow of losing their loved ones in any fleeting moment.
Those fortunate to still have their families intact witness heartbroken parents sifting through the rubble in search of any sign of their children.
Others cling tightly to the lifeless bodies of their young ones, grappling with the incomprehensible reality of their plight.
Certain parents have protected their children from harm, yet tragically lost their own lives, leaving their offspring to grapple with an unending future of suffering and anguish on their own.
Anyone who manages to evade Israeli bombs must still contend with the separate struggle against hunger and thirst, as the Israeli regime has cruelly imposed these life-threatening challenges on Gazans since October 7.
In this article we will take a look at the crimes Israel has committed in Gaza, in the almost two months of war it has waged on the besieged territory.
No food and water
Israel’s war minister announced the beginning of the regime’s genocidal attacks on Gaza with unbelievably Nazi-like remarks that have been sidestepped by Western leaders to this day.
Yoav Gallant's statement that "we are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly" was followed by a declaration that the regime would be depriving the entire population of Gaza of food, water, fuel, medicine, and electricity.
Siege is a cruel and outdated tactic used to weaken the enemy, as it puts civilians in a state of devastating deprivation and disease, which can lead to pressure on the armed forces to surrender.
Despite Gaza being under siege for 16 years, this is the first time that people's lives have been directly threatened by a lack of food, water, and medication.
This issue must be addressed immediately, as it is a clear violation of basic human rights. Humans need an average of five liters of water per day for drinking, cooking, and personal hygiene and need to consume 2,200 calories a day to function normally.
Palestinians trapped in the world’s “biggest open-air prison” are hardly getting any of that.
No safe-zones in Gaza
Israel has essentially turned the entirety of Gaza into a killing zone. Over 70% of homes in the territory have been reduced to rubble, and even UN buildings, schools, churches, mosques, and hospitals have not been spared from being targeted.
One particular alarming situation is the current siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Israeli forces have surrounded the hospital with tanks and artillery, and they are targeting any terrified civilians who attempt to flee the overcrowded compound.
Tragically, dead bodies are piling up within the hospital, and medical staff are forced to treat patients on the ground due to a severe shortage of medical equipment.
Disturbingly, this is not an isolated incident. Israel has previously raided hospitals on two separate occasions in the past two months, resulting in a killing spree within these facilities. Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital have been left in ruins, with hundreds of innocent people losing their lives while seeking shelter in the facilities that are supposed to be protected under international law.
Israel has attempted to justify these heinous acts by claiming that Hamas fighters were hiding inside the hospitals. However, despite these claims, no evidence has been presented to support these allegations. Instead, these attacks have only generated memes on social media, further underscoring the lack of substantiation for the regime's actions.
The regime has extended its criminal acts by detaining the medical staff who have spent every second of their lives in the past two months trying to save innocent people in the Al-Shia and Indonesian hospitals. The whereabouts of the detainees remain unclear.
But the Israeli military had to take its time killing the ones sheltering in hospitals, after its deadly airstrike on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital came under widespread scrutiny. The October 17 attack killed hundreds of people taking refuge in the facility. Israel had to change its strategy and begin ground assaults into Gaza’s hospitals as it deemed further heavy bombings on the medical compounds more costly diplomatic wise.
Now it is reducing hospitals to the ground not through a single attack, but with the help of repeated, and perhaps more painful ones.
The regime has so far killed more than 16,000 Palestinians with 70% of the dead comprised of women and children. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says so far more than 6,600 children have been killed, with thousands more still under the rubble. Israel is using 1-tonne bombs to kill these innocent beings.
Meanwhile, the West continues to turn a blind eye to the genocide that is unfolding in Gaza. Western leaders send money and logistics to the regime to ensure it can fulfill all its objectives in besieged territory, one of which could be the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Optics inside Israel
If there is one thing that everyone on the two sides of the ledger can agree on, it’s the fact that Israel suffered a colossal military, security, and intelligence defeat on October 7. The Hamas surprise operation that occurred that day killed over 1000 Israelis, according to the regime’s official tally.
Israel’s subsequent attacks on Gaza in response to the operation did not only fail to bring back security and confidence to the occupied territories but actually widened chasm between different Israeli politicians as well as the Jews who were deceived into the Palestinian lands to spend the rest of their lives in a “forever safe haven”.
Reports show that Jews’ reverse immigration from Israel is on the rise. More and more Israelis have been lining up in front of European embassies since October 7 to apply for European passports.
Those who are still clinging to the idea of a “promised” land for Jews have been taking to the streets inside the occupied territories to voice their disquiet with the regime’s disregard towards the loss of Israeli lives.
By Soheila Zarfam
First published by Tehran Times
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