Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Worsens as Death Toll Rises

People around the world demand a ceasefire as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens. Israel has cut off water, food, electricity, gas, and all communications to the outside world. Hundreds of thousands face dehydration, starvation, disease, and death while the bombing of civilians in Gaza continues.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, said, “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly by ordering a complete siege on Gaza, with no electricity,  food, water, or fuel.” 

A mass movement is developing worldwide in response to the war crimes being committed against the Palestinian people who are improvised and helpless in an open-air prison called Gaza that is 25 miles long and from 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the humanitarian system in Gaze is in total collapse with unimaginable consequences for more than 2 million civilians.

Half of the 2.3 million civilians in Gaza are children. Netanyahu does not have a war on Hamas but a war on children. He says he is going after Hamas, but all he has done is kill 3 thousand children and 5 thousand civilians who are not Hamas. Israel is practicing collective punishment and indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian people.

The governments of the United States, Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, and Canada are partners and accomplices in this genocide of civilians.

Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, said, “This war will not make anyone safer. How many lives must die before they see this is not the path to peace or to make anyone safer? Israel is making Gaza a perpetual hell on earth, and it cannot remain above the law. This is crazy. All lives matter. How many innocent Palestinian lives must die before this insanity ends?”

Thousands of protests in support of Palestine continue to erupt around the world in the West Bank, Turkey, France, London, New York, Washington DC, the Middle East, Asia, Canada, and too many cities to list here.

In Atlanta, thousands of people take to the streets again, outraged by water, food, fuel, and medicine not allowed to enter Gaza. And now there is a communication blackout while Israel continues to bomb civilians with white phosphorus paid for with U.S. dollars. These are war crimes by Israel and paid for by the United States.

As long as the U.S. continues to give money and weapons to Israel, they will continue to use them to bomb and kill Palestinian civilians, including children, activists warn. 

PALESTINIANS want to know why Israeli lives matter, but Palestinian lives don’t matter when all lives are of equal value. Is it because they have been dehumanized by the Israeli government and called animals not worthy of life?

“Does the U.S. care about the 2.3 million people in Gaza who are in danger of genocide or the 50,000 pregnant women who are giving birth in hospitals with no electricity, no water, no food, and no medications, or the eight thousand human lives we’ve lost in three weeks?” a Palestinian healthcare worker asks.

“Everyone with a beating heart and a moral compass should stand with Palestine. Palestine should not have to display their dead children or compile a list of those who have been murdered as proof they are dead,” she said.

President Joe Biden questioned the Gaza Ministry of Health death statistics when he said, “I have no notion that Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.” 

Israel has fired over 8,000 bombs into Gaza in three weeks. They have hit buildings, homes, apartments, health facilities, ambulances, crowded markets, fleeing refugees, schools, water and sewage systems, and electric networks. Eight thousand deaths is probably an undercount, as many people are still buried under the rubble. 

Josh Paul, Director of the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, resigned over the sale of weapons to Israel. In his resignation letter, he said, “The Biden administration’s blind support for one side was leading to policy decisions that were shortsighted and destructive. It is a violation of federal laws to give weapons to Israel to commit war crimes against civilians,” Paul said

 “Who are the real terrorists? There is a genocide happening in Gaza. All the water, electricity, and communications have been cut off, so no one can see what they are doing to the Palestinian people. But we know it is genocide funded by the U.S. These are the real terrorists,” a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation said.

“The U.S. spends billions to send warships to Gaza to kill Palestinians. That money could be used to feed people, educate people, and give health care to people in the U.S. Every year, we send billions to Israel to fund genocide. Why? Because Israel is a watchdog in the Middle East for the U.S.,” he said.

An Iman stated that the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and called for an end to the occupation and domination of Palestine. “October 7 was not the beginning of this issue. It was just a continuation of the Israeli-Palestine issues that have been ongoing for the past 75 years. Prior to the State of Israel in 1948, Muslims and Jews had coexisted in peace. It is the political philosophy of Zionism that has contributed to most of the divisions among the various religions in the area.”

“For 75 years, Palestinians have been murdered, displaced, and incarcerated. The conditions were untenable, and they exploded. Jews participate in suppressing an entire people, and Jews have been taught not to look at that. Jews need to catch up and face the reality of history. So we can understand why these events are taking place, Sarah Schulman, a Jewish author, told Ayman Mohyeldin, an Egyptian news reporter.

“Killing the flowers will not delay the spring. None of us are free until all of us are free,” a Palestine woman said.

written and photos by Gloria Tatum

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