In Occupied Gaza, bombs are not the only thing raining down on its residents. On Friday, Oct. 13, residents in Northern Gaza looked up as leaflets from the Israeli Occupation Forces fell from the sky, instructing Palestinians in the Beit Lahia region of Gaza to evacuate from ‘impending’ danger. Approximately 1.1 million Palestinians living in Northern Gaza face two options: ethnic cleansing or genocide.
For the last 75 years in Occupied Palestine, ethnic cleansing and genocide have been a constant occurrence. But now, Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing a modern-day Nakba. History is repeating itself in the most sinister of ways because Zionists have been allowed to act as though they are above life itself.
Saturday, Oct. 14 marked one week since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation began. In the past seven days, the genocidal state of Israel dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Gaza, killing at least 2,215 Palestinians including more than 700 children as of Saturday morning. To provide context on how fast this genocidal attack on Gaza is accelerating, in 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were murdered in a 50-day bombardment on the besieged strip.
The Israeli regime has cut off water, electricity, and internet in Gaza since Wednesday. Hospitals have been devastated by the amount of injured Palestinians and have no resources to provide proper care. Al-Awda Hospital, located in Northern Gaza, was part of those ordered to evacuate by the IOF. MSF International tweeted that staff and patients were given two hours to escape and expected to drop everything while they were in the middle of treating wounded patients. Al-Awda Hospital’s director said that they will not be evacuating and that doctors will remain with their patients.
Yumna Patel, Palestine News Director at Mondoweiss tweeted: “Gazans are fleeing their homes en masse. Our colleague @Tareqshajjaj says Gaza City is in complete chaos. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing on foot, heading south, and Israeli drones circle the skies. This morning there were air strikes in Gaza’s south. This is a death march.” But just as thousands of displaced Gazans were attempting to escape imminent threat, Israel bombed the very same streets they told Palestinians to flee through. Israel has put on a show for the Western world. In the eyes of the West, all the Occupying state must do to appear civilized is to send down pamphlets warning people about their upcoming genocide. In reality, Palestinians only had an illusion of choice. Israel controls everything and will never allow Palestinians to have any sort of self-determination, even if it is between displacement and death.
Many of those located in Northern Gaza refused to leave, stating they would not live to see a repeat of the Nakba when 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed due to the creation of the settler-colonial state of Israel. The majority of Palestinians living in Gaza are the descendants of these refugees, and they would rather die with honor in their homes instead of letting their occupiers continue to displace them.
In the wake of the evacuation order, the Palestinian Red Crescent has issued a statement saying it will not leave and abandon Palestinians to die alone, despite Israel’s threats to bomb and kill indiscriminately. This is the extent of how principled Palestinians are, that they choose to risk their lives for dignity, honor, and a just cause. Ten paramedics have already been killed by Israel since the start of the bombardment, and 27 have been injured.
Meanwhile, in order to attempt to justify genocide, Israel has been ramping up its usage of atrocity propaganda. Multiple lies have come out about the Palestinian resistance beheading Israeli babies. Although having no proof, CNN correspondent Sarah Sidner reported that 40 Israeli babies were found beheaded after a member of the Israeli forces lied. When people demanded proof from Israel, they were met with dismissal.
In fact, during an aggressive and abhorrent makeshift press conference on Zoom on Oct. 12 Major Nir Dinar and Colonel (Res) Golan Vachsaid said that "details don't matter" and "you don't want to see the pictures" when asked to verify the claim as reported and recorded by Palestine Square (this blog). Sidner later retracted that statement, but only after 614 Palestinian children were murdered while the world justified it due to propaganda.
Ironically, as the media pretends to care for children, Palestinian children have to remind the world that they are not worthless by campaigning for their own human rights to be recognized. As Western journalists spread damaging lies and remain unaffected, Palestinian journalists in Gaza are being targeted and murdered by the IOF for documenting Israeli war crimes. At least 10 Palestinian journalists in Gaza and one Lebanese journalist in southern Lebanon have been killed so far, others are reported missing or detained while those who remain are actively threatened by the Israeli regime. Motaz Azaiza, a Gazan photojournalist, has been anonymously called by Israeli authorities — a tactic commonly used to threaten Palestinians. Aziza was told to stay away from Northern Gaza and stop reporting or risk death. More than 15 members of Azaiza’s family were killed by an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli war criminal on the phone also claimed that a ground invasion was coming.
Not only do Palestinian journalists have to risk their lives to report on what is occurring in Occupied Gaza, but social media censorship of Palestinian content has escalated since Saturday. The very same journalist, Motaz Azaiza, has had his Instagram account suspended, forcing him to create a new account to document Israel’s crimes against humanity. His account was later reinstated.
Palestinians are fighting a multi-billion dollar-funded genocidal state, and the world is in collaboration with their oppressors to silence them in any way possible. It seems that regular laws and rules of humanity do not apply when Palestinians are involved. The wealthiest and strongest nations on this earth are terrified of an occupied population who live under lock and key in an extermination camp.
Bayan Abusultan, a Palestinian journalist in Northern Gaza, tweeted: “My family and I remain in Gaza City until the moment. Almost everyone in Gaza and the northern provinces fled to the south, we feel like we are the only ones left here. I do not forgive [anyone who] left us to die in this bloodbath. May our faces haunt you forever. #Gaza”
To all of those who ask how human rights atrocities such as genocide can be committed, understand that we, as a world, are witness to mass execution right now. This is how genocides have been committed in the past. This is how genocide is being committed in Gaza, before the eyes of passive and complicit world leaders looking away from the footage and covering their ears to block people's chants from the streets.
