[SOURCES FOR EVERY STATEMENT MADE REGARDING THE GENOCIDE AT THE VERY END OF THE PAGE]
This has been weighing on my mind for over a month now and while I'm very much aware that my input will not prove particularly impactful in any capacity other than act as a poorly worded diatribe -I still find myself desperately needing to express all that's been on my mind on the subject.
The events of October the 7th are truly a haunting experience for the israeli and non-israeli civilians who were killed, tortured, and subjected to horrific torment and of course, the recommence of the nightmare for those who survived that are now being held hostages in Gaza, who I PRAY find their way back to their families unharmed.
With that being made clear and my stance being completely coherent and unambiguous -since the equation of ~free palestine/ceasefire = hamas supporter~ is one that is being very commonly used in order to deconstruct any cogent criticism of israel and its government/military- I want to proceed by expressing my grievances with the atrocities that are being AND have being committed by the IDF and their government.
The Gaza Strip, otherwise known as simply Gaza, is a very small compartment of what's left of Palestine -in my country Greece, it is funnily enough compared to the island I reside in due to their nearly identical size (Andros- 380 km², Gaza- 365km²) with Gaza being even smaller by a few km! In that small space live 2 million people(1), of whom 47% are children (2) NOT affiliated with hamas.
After the 7th of October, the israeli government decided that the appropriate course of action would be cutting the electricity, food and water supply off Gaza (3 (war crime) leaving thousands of power-depended innocents, among them infants without the proper medical support required for their survival, left women, children and the elderly to starve along with the absence of potable water -that is 940,000 children alone having basic survival aid taken from them.
What followed was indiscriminate bombings all over Gaza in arbitrary locations that were often not even related to alleged hamas hideouts (4). Along with above, there has been the use of white phosphorus sprayed generously again, over the majority of Gaza (5 (war crime) causing horrific adverse effects in people's health, including but not limited to: severe burns, gastrointestinal irritation, multi-organ failure, nervous system injury concluding in death (6).
Then after the West became very mildly critical of IDF's practices, the government started issuing warnings about where they would bomb next and how the civilians should evacuate said areas and follow safe evacuation routes. Now, ignoring the fact that it is quite literally insane to give an ultimatum such as this; displacement or death, it is also preposterous to expect thousands to be able to evacuate in time after depriving them of every single tool that would allow them to do so effectively. Here's the cherry on top though: thousands of Gazans did actually begin evacuating only to be...bombed by a deadly idf airstrike over the so-called, israel identified safe evacuation routes (7). Hundreds killed on civilian convoys fleeing nothern Gaza, among them many, many children.
After the above, and during the above since none of those have ceased in over a month, Israel put forth ground special operations in Gaza. This in theory would sound like the least cruel solution in order to both retrieve the hostages and SPECIFICALLY eliminate hamas without the deaths of innocents, however today alone the IDF killed several civillians in the Shifa hospital while they were attempting to flee, among them patients and staff.(8)
Personally, I do not understand launching a war in order to avenge your people and get back the ones kidnapped, and then proceeding to bomb them too, relentlessly AND refuse to get them back in exchange for a ceasefire (9). I don't understand the idea of collective punishment in an area where 940,000 children reside. I don't understand the excuses made such as: well hamas is using innocents as shields, and that being a valid reason to murder as many as possible in order to penetrate that shield. I don't understand people being opposed to the bare minimum in which case is ceasefire -you dont even have to be pro-palestine to see that what is happening now is genocidal. I don't understand people being oblivious to the 75-year long occupation, slaughter and displacement of civilians by the israeli government. I don't understand selective and conditional activism and support when children's lives are on the line, when every 10 minutes a gazan child is KILLED. I don't understand the vile use of pinkwashing by the western media in order to EXCUSE the murder to innocent civilians because maybe some would be homophobic and hence deserving of death. I don't understand denying someone's indigeneity and using the same archaic practices western europeans used on native americans.
This is only scrapping the very top of a monstrous iceberg, and maybe I feel especially passionate about this because of my people's similar past both 200 years ago and then again in the 1920's, OR maybe I just don't enjoy the sight of dismembered children laying lifeless on streets [FROM EITHER SIDE for all those who would jump at the opportunity to blame me for caring only for palestinian children, because israel DOES NOT EVEN CARE about israeli children, and i dont think they did at ANY point of this massacre]. Props to Ireland and Spain for being some of the only western countries to call out this INCREDIBLY disproportionate "response" and naming it EXACTLY what it is -an apartheid, an ethnic cleansing, a genocide. I am ashamed that my government does not have the guts to speak up against this. but it does bring me a sliver of solace that we at least sent some medical supplies and other humanitarian support.
I think it is VERY simple....STOP BOMBING, STARVING, AND DEPRIVING KIDS OF A FUTURE.
[just came to my attention that the links are neither clickable nor copy-able; to copy them click on the comment bubble next to each link and from the section that will open up, you'll be able to copy the link, or simply highlight it and 'search google' for it]
1)https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/israel-west-bank-and-gaza/west-bank-and-gaza/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20government%20estimates%20the,Gaza%20Strip%20(midyear%202022)
2)https://healthpolicy-watch.news/massive-rise-in-infectious-diseases-in-gaza-as-water-supplies-and-sanitation-collapse/#:~:text=Children%2C%20meanwhile%2C%20make%20up%20around,)%20another%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Guterres.
3)https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/water-and-armed-conflicts#:~:text=Starvation%20as%20a%20method%20of,and%20supplies%20and%20irrigation%20works.
4)https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/12/the-buildings-are-now-ashes-gazans-feel-nowhere-is-safe-from-israeli-bombs
5)White phosphorus munitions. (2023, November 7). In Wikipedia. 6)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_munitions
7)https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750025.html#:~:text=White%20phosphorus%20burns%20in%20air,primarily%20due%20to%20gastrointestinal%20irritation.
8)https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/14/gaza-civilians-afraid-to-leave-home-after-bombing-of-safe-routes
9)https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-36
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Enodo - research & essays.
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