By Abdullah Shawesh
Mass graves are unfortunate facts in Gaza today, we all need to remember Al Tantura massacre and its mass grave.
It’s not the Israeli-Hamas War, it’s the Israeli war against the Palestinian people. Also, it’s not a conflict; it’s the Israeli occupation. Don’t be part of Israeli Western propaganda and brainwashing.
We are at an inflection point in history, with deep and real changes occurring before our eyes. The Intifada (uprising) that has erupted globally to support the just Palestinian cause, the falling of democracy, free speech, and human rights myths in the so-called free world indicate a new historical phase.
The youth on campuses are challenging the Zionist scarecrows and sacred cows of anti-Semitism accusation that they used to stifle any critical voices against their brutal, vicious, and bloody policies and measures.
Everyone has an essential role to play as a game-changer.
The youth from around the world are rewriting modern history, changing the political discourse, and creating new political orders. Don’t miss this opportunity, be part of the current global Intifada, give your contribution, and make positive changes.
The current war stands out as unprecedented in the scale of death, destruction, and human suffering it has incurred, with repercussions that will echo for generations to come.
As of Tuesday, May 7, the number of Palestinian martyrs reached 34,789, with 78,204 injured.
Since 7 October, 474 Palestinians, including 116 children, have been killed in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and about 5,000 have been injured.
UNHR Expert stated “We are horrified at details emerging from mass graves recently unearthed in the Gaza Strip. Over 390 bodies have been discovered at Nasser and Al Shifa hospitals, including of women and children, with many reportedly showing signs of torture and summary executions, and potential instances of people buried alive,”
On May 2, Dr. Adnan Al Bursh, a 50-year-old head of the orthopedic department at Al Shifa hospital, who had been injured and arrested by Israeli while on duty, passed away on April 19 in Ofer Prison. His body remains withheld by the Israeli occupation.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner General on his press conference at UN Geneva April 30 on the issue of the Palestinian prisoners said and I quote “But I have also shared to this morning our deep concern regarding the Gazans detained by Israeli Security Forces…. When they were arrested, they were routinely rounded up, stripped to their underwear, and loaded into trucks, blindfolded, and bound. Most of the time, once arrested these detainees remain incommunicado and they are subjected to shocking inhumane treatment. Among inhumane treatment they have described to us waterboarding, severe beatings, attacks by dogs, being forced to hold a stress position for hours, sometimes 12 hours, 24 hours, and being forced to wear diapers instead of accessing the toilet.”
Noting that the Israeli occupation authority denied Mr. Lazzarini entry to the Gaza Strip for the second time since the beginning of the war.
Citing the UN, around 10,000 people are feared to be buried under the rubble in Gaza. It could take up to three years to retrieve the bodies using the primitive tools currently available. Amid rising temperatures that will accelerate the decomposition of the bodies, there is a heightened threat of health diseases spreading.
Nearly all of the 600,000 children now sheltering in the southern border city of Rafah are “injured, sick or malnourished” “Over 200 days of war have already killed and maimed tens of thousands of children in Gaza,” the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) chief said.
UN mine action experts have estimated that some 7,500 tons of unexploded ordnance could be “scattered” throughout Gaza which could take up to 14 years to clear.
On 23 April 2024 UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk stated, “Every 10 minutes, a child is killed or wounded. They are protected under the laws of war, and yet they are ones who are disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war…. At the same time, grave human rights violations were continuing unabated in the occupied West Bank. Despite international condemnation of massive settler attacks from 12-14 April facilitated by the Israeli Security Forces (ISF), settler violence has continued with the support, protection, and participation of the ISF.
During its field invasion of most of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army converted a number of schools into military bases and detention facilities. In a report published on 13 December 2023, Euro-Med revealed that the Israeli army has turned schools sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people into military centers and field execution sites as part of its genocide against Palestinians.
It is also important to point out that the Israeli war is not limited to military attacks, but extends to all aspects of life, the most important of which are financial deductions and withholding of clearing funds from the Palestinian government, which has put the latter in an ongoing dilemma for years and pushed the entire Palestinian society to the brink of the abyss.
Famine is imminent in Gaza, half of its population, 1.1 million people, face catastrophic food insecurity. This represents the highest share of a population ever recorded globally.
Among the 677,000 on the brink of famine are an estimated 15,000 pregnant women, heightening the risks for both mothers and newborns. Children’s acute malnutrition rates have doubled since January, with one in three under two suffering from malnutrition. Palestinians in Gaza now constitute some 80 percent of all people facing famine worldwide.
Only 12 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza and 22 of the enclave’s 88 primary health care facilities are “partially functional” today, according to the UN health agency. The hospitals are operating at limited capacity and overwhelmed with patients, grappling with critical shortages of fuel, medicines, supplies, and medical staff.
The killing of seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen from multiple Israeli airstrikes on 1 April, 2024, was not an isolated incident. At least 254 aid workers have been killed (248 nationals, 6 foreigners), including 185 UN staff. This total includes the highest number of UN personnel killed in a conflict in the history of the organization.
Finally, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, UNESCO awarded the Palestinian journalists covering the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza the 2024 UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for their brave and courageous work. It is noted that the Israeli occupation army killed 135 Correspondents, detained another 100, with 45 of them under administrative detention, and 4 of them still missing.
Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh is the
Ambassador of the Embassy of the State of Palestine
X – Tweeter: @AM_Shawesh. Edited by Goodluck Ikiebe.
Acronyms
ISF Israeli Security Force.
UNHR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization
UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
