The Palestinian people have been in on-going mourning for a year, as October 7 marks the day Hamas attacked Israel and the settler state retaliated by initiating a genocide in the world’s only ‘open-air-prison’.
In the brutal October 7, 2023 attack, Hamas killed 1,139 Israelis and kidnapped more than 240 hostages.
For this, the Israeli government essentially deemed the whole population of Gaza as terrorists, and the slaughter began, razing many settlements in the area to the ground in constant bombardment.
Yoav Gallant, the Israeli state’s Defence Minister, authorised a ‘complete siege’ of the Gaza Strip, infamously saying: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”
With the US being a staunch ally to the regime, American healthcare workers who worked in Gaza demand a ceasefire and a weapons embargo from its government.
“The human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population,” reads the letter.
Trauma and critical care surgeon, Dr Feroze Sidhwa stated in the public letter: “I have never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.”
The majority of the civilian casualties are reportedly children. Asma Taha, a paediatric nurse practitioner added that every day they witnessed the deaths of newborns. This was because the mothers were emaciated and unable to breastfeed, and there was no baby formula or clean water to feed them, so they starved.
Other children are reportedly just murdered. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the account Martyrs of Gaza shared that a seven-year-old boy was allegedly executed by an Israeli sniper with a direct shot to the head while he was on his way to get bread for his mother.
“He went to buy bread for his mother but returned to her as a headless corpse.”
— Martyrs of Gaza (@GazaMartyrs) October 5, 2024
His name was Muhammed Saeed Al-Ustaz, 7 years old. He was killed by an Israeli sniper with a direct shot to the head while he was on his way to buy bread for his mother. pic.twitter.com/0WctamAuOW
For Israel, the wave of war continues to surge as it now has set its sights on Lebanon, bombing Beirut, with Western countries, primarily, the US backing it and seemingly having dropped the leash on its Middle Eastern ‘attack dog’.
Vice president and presidential nominee, Kamala Harris said the people of Lebanon face an increasingly grave humanitarian situation. “I am concerned about the security and wellbeing of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there.”
IOL