Al-Reef – 31st.Oct.2023
Palestine
The Ongoing Gaza Genocide
-Update #3-
- Brief Historical Background
The Gaza Strip is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and has an area of 365km2 and a population of 2.4 million, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It was under the rule of the British Mandate until 1948 (Al-Nakbah or the Catastrophe) when the Zionist state was declared after Zionist gangs had taken over around 85% of Palestine. Then it became under the Egyptian rule from 1948 until 1956 when the Israeli forces occupied it for 5 months and then it went back under the Egyptian rule.
Gaza was occupied by the settler colony of Israel in 1967 after being under the Egyptian rule since 1948. Most of its residents are refugees and descendants of refugees who were forcefully displaced from their homes and lands in 1948.
The Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, evacuated their settlements there and then proceeded to impose a complete siege around the Strip in 2007 as form of collective punishment, controlling every aspect of Palestinians’ lives for the past 17 years including what goes in and out of Gaza, water, electricity, land and air. That has resulted in an economic downturn, high unemployment rates, poverty and shortage in different necessities of life all over the years.
- Ongoing Genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Since the 7th of October.2023, Israeli and American warplanes and airstrikes have killed over 8,525 Palestinians including 3,542 children and 2,187 women, and injured more than 21,400. The bombs have also resulted in the destruction of 177,781 housing units and the damage of 221 schools, 42 UNRWA facilities, 7 churches and 11 mosques.
- The Health Care System in Gaza is Collapsing.
The Israeli occupation is still prohibiting the entry of fuel to Gaza, which prevents the required humanitarian response to reach Gaza’s health care system and endangers the lives of the patients who rely on intensive care including the 1000 patients who need dialysis.
Additionally, the health facilities are constantly targeted and threatened by the Israeli occupation; The World Health Organization documented 118 attacks on medical facilities in Gaza that damaged 99 ambulances and affected the medical staff. Consequently, 12 hospitals (of the 35 hospitals in Gaza) are out of service and 46 medical centers stopped working because of the continuous bombardments. Additionally, the occupancy rate in the Gaza hospitals reached 170%.
- Forced Displacement, But Nowhere is Safe…
the Israeli forces threatened Palestinians in Gaza, ordered them to evacuate their houses in the northern area and move to the south and claimed that it’s a safe place. Therefore, 1.4 million of them are still displaced from their houses, although there’s no difference between the north or the south; nowhere is safe in Gaza and the Israeli bombs are targeting all areas with no exception.
The displaced Gazans are living in very difficult conditions in UNRWA emergency shelters, schools, hospitals, social centers and relatives’ houses in the south. Thousands of them lost their houses that were demolished by Israeli airstrikes, and many of them are threatened to be destroyed. Thousands of Palestinians were killed in areas the Israeli occupation claimed were safe. Many displaced civilians were also targeted on the roads as they were looking for shelters.
- What is the Israeli Occupation’s Aim?
Destruction and causing as much damage as possible in Gaza are clearly stated by different Israeli officials; “We are dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on Gaza. The focus is on destruction, not accuracy” (Daniel Hagari, Israeli Army Spokesmen). The occupation claims that they’re defending themselves and targeting militants. However, their genocidal intent was very clear from the beginning of this war, and the victims of this war are 73% children, women and the elderly. They also declared their plan to subject Palestinians in Gaza to a second Nakba by forcing them to move to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The Israeli forces have also been increasing and expanding their ground invasion attacks and intensifying their bombardments all around the Gaza Strip with the continuous support of the U.S.
- The West Bank: Israeli Settler Attacks, Roadblocks and an Arrest Campaign.
Since the 7th of October, Israeli forces have killed more than 122 Palestinians in the West Bank, injured thousands and arrested around 1680 Palestinians of which 80% are in administrative detention without charge or trial, raising the number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons to 6,840.
The general situation in the West Bank has been gradually getting more tense for the past 2 years, and especially since the 7th of October. The last 3 weeks encountered an increase in assaults and attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, mostly on the roads between cities and villages and agricultural lands. In addition to multiple checkpoints and roadblocks between the different areas in the West Bank which has been obstructing Palestinians’ freedom of movement and exposing them to attacks by Israeli forces.
The escalations are mostly noticeable in the agricultural fields where farmers are exposed to multiple attacks by Israeli settlers. On the 28th of October, the farmer Bilal Saleh in the northern West Bank was killed by Israeli settlers while picking olives in his land in Al-Sawiyah village during the olive oil season. The martyrdom of Bilal Saleh is an example of multiple attacks carried out by Israeli settlers and forces against Palestinians who have lands of olive trees close to Israeli settlements during the olive harvest season.
Besides the settler attacks and checkpoints, Palestinians in the West Bank have been receiving threats from Israeli settlers through leaflets and telephone messages telling them to leave their lands and go to Jordan. However, Palestinians will remain resilient in their homeland as they have been all over the years.
Despite the Israeli attempts to assault Palestinians on a daily basis and restrict all of the aspects of their lives for 75 years, Palestinians face these challenges by holding on to their lands. Farmers are also doubling their efforts to defy those obstacles they have been facing all of their lives, and especially in the past 3 weeks.
- Fundraising Campaign: Building Hope for Gaza
In correspondence with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Al-Reef has decided to launch a fundraising campaign called “Building Hope for Gaza” to contribute to the mitigation of the effects of this atrocious genocide that has been carried out on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Zionist occupation, since it has been resulting in poverty, massive destruction, loss of homes and immediate need for food, clean water and other basic necessities of life.
The link of the campaign’s details:
https://www.alreeffairtrade.ps/sites/default/files/newsletters/building_...