Brief: Atrocities in Gaza, Health Sector Cries for Help

Since the historical events of Oct. 7, it is nearly impossible to keep up with the updates coming out of Occupied Palestine. The Palestinian death toll is quickly rising, with 1128 martyrs, including 7 journalists, having been accounted for thus far and thousands more seriously injured. Over 1,000 Israelis have died since Saturday, and the Israeli Occupation’s unlawful retaliation is nothing less than collective punishment and blatant genocide.

Gazans have described their current reality as “worse than any other escalation Gaza has gone through.” The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have released statements and videos publically calling for a genocide in Gaza. In one video, a member of the IOF calls Palestinians “human beasts” and declares Gaza will receive no electricity or water, just destruction. Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, reiterated in a video that Gazans are “human animals” and will be placed under a complete siege and left without food and fuel. Israel’s goal is to destroy any and all signs of life in Gaza by targeting apartment buildings, universities, churches, mosques, and hospitals.

On Saturday, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to get vengeance, promising to turn the largest and most densely populated open-air prison in the world into a deserted island. As if this behavior is not sick enough, Netanyahu told Palestinians in Gaza to flee, knowing the Israeli Occupation controls all border crossings in and out of Gaza (yes, even the Egyptian one is under strict order, as Egypt and Israel collaborate on denying Palestinians freedom of movement). In fact, Palestinians did attempt to flee through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, except the Israeli Forces bombed it three times in a 24 hour period. Gaza is the only place in the world where people cannot flee by boat, despite bordering the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In contrast, Israeli settlers have been racing their way out of the Occupied territories by jumping on planes and flying out to wherever their second passports lead them. 

Water and electricity in Gaza have been cut off by the Israeli Occupation in an act of collective punishment and as an aid in Palestinian genocide. There are 2.1 million residents in Gaza, almost 50% of the population are children. Water is a basic human necessity that Palestinians in Gaza have now been completely stripped of. Without electricity, Gaza’s residents will soon lose access to the internet, unable to document the war crimes being committed against them. 

Hospitals are absolutely inundated with injured and traumatized victims. Al Jazeera reported that according to the World Health Organization, 13 attacks have hit health facilities and pre-positioned medical supplies have already been used. Doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who is in Gaza, tweeted, “The hospitals, because of the siege, are so short of supplies that we had to clean a teenage girl with 70% body surface burns with regular soap because the hospital is out of chlorhexidine (antiseptic).” Dr. Abu-Sittah also filmed a video published by the Institute for Palestine Studies stating that “30 to 40 percent of the wounded, like all Gaza wars, are children,” and that “the situation will only get worse.” Palestinians in Gaza need supplies sooner rather than later, but as Egypt attempted to send a humanitarian aid truck, the Rafah crossing was hit with missiles again, forcing the truck to retreat. Israel also threatened that future attempts at delivering humanitarian aid would be met with military aggression. On Oct. 11, Israel killed four paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent, three of whom were deliberately targeted while attending to the injured in the Jabalia area in Gaza. Their names were Khalil Al-Sharif, Yasser Al-Masri and Ahmed Dahman. The fourth paramedic, Hatem Awad, was shot in the back, through the heart while on a humanitarian mission aiding the injured and the dead at the Karmi crossing in eastern Gaza. The mission was green-lit in coordination mission the International Committee of the Red Cross. All were visibly identifiable; uniforms and vehicles.

As the IOF continues to commit one belligerent war crime after another, such as dropping internationally banned white phosphorus onto Gaza’s neighborhoods, extreme stress sets in as to how Palestinians will survive this latest genocide attempt.

While Palestinian civilians are being met with hell on earth once again, Western nations including the U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Italy released a joint statement announcing their “steadfast and united support to the State of Israel, and unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and its appalling acts of terrorism.” In addition, U.S. President Joe Biden released a statement about the “at least 11 American citizens” killed in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation and assuring Israeli-American settlers that the U.S. will provide consular assistance. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee tweeted, however, that this is incorrect and that the U.S. Embassy has abandoned its citizens.

This is a very stark contrast to the complete silence Palestinians are met with every time war crimes are perpetrated against them. The IOF has killed Palestinians with American citizenship, like Omar Assad, and Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, but we never heard Western condemnation.

In these moments of absolute chaos and destruction, Palestinians remember that only liberation can end this cycle of Palestinian suffering. Gaza writer, Asmaa Taybeh, said in an interview with Al Jazeera “I believe we will never be safe even after the war is over. In fact, I will never feel free as long as Palestine is occupied and its people terrorized.”