300 days of genocide

Today is the 2nd of August and it marks 300 days of the genocide in Gaza. This period has been really intense because there have been so many assassinations and attempts to assassinate local leaders, like Ismail Haniyeh, who is Hamas’ political leader. There is a lot of anger amongst the Palestinians. Although as Palestinians we are separated - for example we have Fatah, Hamas, Gaza and the West Bank - but no one accepts the murder of one of our leaders, no matter who it was. This is because as Palestinians, we only have one enemy. The majority of Palestinians are more angry now than they have ever been. 

Since becoming a refugee in Egypt I have been having a lot of discussions about what it means to be a refugee. One of my friends who has lived outside of Palestine her entire life said it very clearly, “I lived in the UAE most of my life and then I moved to the USA. I have never seen my homeland Palestine and it feels really weird because I’m holding the same citizenship of the country (USA) which is supporting and providing military support to the people (Israel) who are killing my own people.” Although she’s never been to Palestine even once in her life she feels a strong sense of belonging and loyalty to it and this is the case for the majority of Palestinians who have had to live away from their homeland. 

Seeing what’s going in Gaza from a distance has given me a totally different perspective of the situation. We all know that the legal definition of genocide is the deliberate killing of a group of  people who belong to a specific nation or ethnic group in order to destroy them. The genocide in Gaza isn’t just this - it takes so many forms. It’s not just about the Israeli army, one of the most armed armies in the world, killing civilians who have nothing to do with what’s happening and just want to live their own regular lives. This genocide is being manifested in so many ways - it’s not just the existence of the people which is being challenged but also anything to do with their cultural backgrounds. I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog. Many cultural places and historical sites have been destroyed like Hamam al-Samra, old palaces, the old town of Gaza and the Omari mosque. These places and others showed that there were people living here for many generations, who were deeply rooted in their societies and that there was a life here way before the occupation. The genocide is being done in such a way that it is even destroying all signs of previous life there.

As I’ve said before, this is exactly what happened to our grandparents. The Israeli narrative is that the land of Palestine was a land without a people given to a people without a land. We all know that this held no truth at all as our ancestors had been living on this land for generations. Now again history is repeating itself in one way or another. This genocide aims to destroy every sign of the existence of people who are deeply rooted in their own land as well as destroy them psychologically as well. People there are mentally and physically exhausted because they have had to endure so much. 

The daily lives of the people who are living under genocide is just terrible - they are burying their loved ones every day, hoping that they will find all parts of their bodies and not just have to bury one part because the others have been lost in an explosion. People are also now unable to help one another. Although Gaza was poor and under blockade for a long time people have never had to go to sleep hungry before. It’s now become normal to go to sleep hungry. This never used to happen because people cared and looked after each other. They wouldn't have allowed for others to go hungry. Now they don’t even have the capacity to do that. 

And when they have to leave a place they’re living in because of the bombardment they leave on foot and carry whatever they can carry in the heat. Donkeys pulling carts had become critical in Gaza as the blockade had limited the supply of trucks and fuel. But now there are no donkeys to carry people’s stuff anymore because they are either exhausted, malnourished or have died of starvation. So people can’t even carry their most important things with them and even if they do find someone with a donkey who can help them it would be really expensive to do so. 

My best friend Amani who has been living in a very open space since the beginning of this genocide has also told me that her area is now full of people. The sewage there is accumulating and so many diseases are now starting to spread which previously didn’t even exist in Gaza, such as polio and other diseases. And if someone’s child gets sick and they manage to get to the hospital the doctor usually can’t even see the child because they are dealing with so many critical cases of injured people. Or they are told that they can’t treat the child because the medication for such illnesses is not available because the disease has not existed in Gaza for long time. Essentially the child is going to die - of course the doctors don’t say that but everyone knows it’s going to be a deadly situation for a child if they get such illnesses because of the highly unhygienic situations people are being forced to live in. If they get injured and the injury has some bacteria on it they cannot even clean their injuries; they stay on polluted sand most of the time and so the injuries will never have a chance to heal.

The suffering of the people in Gaza is becoming more intense every day. Every single place in Gaza is now unsafe. The situation is so chaotic that you will come across people fleeing to one place while others are fleeing from that same place because it’s not safe. People are exhausted and they’re waiting for solutions. On the 300th day of this genocide I just want to say that I feel sorry for humanity as the international community has proven to have no influence, international human rights clearly have no meaning and the logic governing this world is the logic of power and not the logic of human rights. What’s happening in Palestine has no common sense at all.