Gaza, ‘a graveyard for children’

Syed Faruk Hossain :

The Gaza Strip has now become a graveyard for thousands of children. Palestinian women and children are living inhumane lives.

Israel has been carrying out devastating airstrikes across the Gaza Strip aimed at eliminating Hamas, the ruling group in Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces have already entered Gaza and launched a ground operation. The conflict is getting worse day by day.

Hundreds of lives are lost every day including women and children. More than four hundred Palestinian children are injured or killed every day.

Children in Gaza are dying not only from Israeli airstrikes, but also from lack of medical care. The world is witnessing a humanitarian disaster in front of its eyes.

If the electricity supply to Gaza is cut off for a long time, there will be a major ‘humanitarian disaster’.

Gaza is burning. Everything including food, electricity and medical care has collapsed. Israel’s genocide in Gaza must stop immediately. All Palestinians are being targeted.

They target children and women in attacks that are gross violations of human rights. In fact, Gaza’s hospitals have been severely under-supplied for a long time.

On top of that, Israel has stopped water supply from the National Water Company. Due to lack of fuel, the ambulance is unable to rescue the injured.

The injured cannot be taken to the ICU. The dead cannot be taken to the morgue. Bodies packed in white bags outside the hospital show the extent of atrocities Israel is carrying out in Gaza.

On the other hand, due to the shortage of hospitals and doctors, injured people by the Israeli attacks are dying in smoke.

Fresh water production capacity in Gaza has dropped to 5 percent of normal levels, putting more than 1 million children at risk of death from dehydration. Many children have become to death after drinking salty water due to intense thirst.

An estimated 6-8 thousand people remain under the rubble and the number of internally displaced people is around 18-30 million. Meanwhile, the Israeli forces continue to bomb relentlessly.

With no food, no water, no medical services, the big question now is how the people of Gaza will breathe. Starving people are desperately fleeing to UN-run relief camps.

People taking refuge in the south are also dying in the attacks. And millions of displaced people have starved to death.

The Gaza Strip has now become a graveyard for thousands of children.

The lack of food and water has now put the children of Gaza in more danger than bombs or mortars.

The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by the occupation forces has exceeded around 10,000. Most of them are children. At least 50,000 people were injured.

The brutal Israeli attack on Gaza has resulted in a terrible humanitarian disaster.

The humanitarian situation is about to get out of control as the Israeli forces continue to surround Gaza from all sides with continuous air and ground attacks.

Apart from food and drink, thousands of people are living a miserable life due to lack of daily necessities. Lifeless bodies of children being pulled from the rubble, corpses wrapped in white sheets in tents and buildings razed to the ground by airstrikes have become a normal occurrence for Palestinians.

In Gaza, day and night, the war is going on. Civilian casualties in conflicts are unacceptable in any way.

The Red Cross said there is a shortage of doctors to treat the injured, along with a shortage of medicines. Patients are now staying on the streets.

The wounded are on the streets, the morgue is overflowing with Palestinian bodies.

There is no space in the corridor either. The row of dead bodies is now in the parking area. Before the relatives could identify the body, more bodies were coming in fast.

Residents of besieged Gaza depend on relief. Gaza’s only power plant has shut down due to lack of fuel. This has left Gaza’s without electricity in the dark.

With the supply cut off, Gaza’s hospitals must rely on generators for electricity.

However, even that will not be possible, because Israel has stopped the supply of electricity, fuel, food, goods and water to Gaza.

Infectious diseases are on the rise due to overcrowded environments and lack of proper hygiene.

The truckload of relief aid to Gaza is like a drop of water in the ocean. Surgeons are operating without anesthetics; people are using mobile phones as light sources in hospitals.

As the conflict continues, more than 500 children are killed or injured in Gaza every day.

According to various studies, violence causes a great deal of negative stress in children, which affects their physical and cognitive development.

It also causes mental health problems in the short and long term. A few days ago, children used to run after hearing the bell of the ice cream van from a distance.

That ice cream truck is now kept in the hospital. Ice cream is not being sold there. Inside the truck are the bodies of Palestinians who lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes.

It is practically impossible to take them to the hospital morgue now. If the death march continues like this, there will be no place to bury the dead in the future.

All cemeteries are already filled. For 73 years, the people of Palestine have been struggling for their rights. The Palestinian people have suffered unspeakable calamities due to this conflict.

Diplomatic efforts are being made to protect human rights and establish peace. The death toll continues to rise.

These children have been the main targets of the Israeli occupation forces in Palestine for seven decades.

Every day new babies are born in Palestine who falls asleep before they go to sleep. It is worthless to count them.

The way Israel has reacted; the people of Gaza have not earned their right to defend themselves. They executed the people of Gaza without any trial.

Living under Israeli occupation and forced settlements in Palestinian territories will not bring peace to the region. The world has condemned the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The world is deeply saddened by the loss of innocent civilian lives and injuries to victims as a result of the conflict.

Israel is responsible for the ongoing attacks and violence in Palestine. This aggression must be stopped immediately.

Palestine must be recognized as an independent and sovereign state. At the root of the Palestine-Israel conflict is the long delay in the implementation of Palestine’s desire to establish an independent state.

It was not right to make the Palestinians suffer because of this historical injustice. Until the independence of Palestine is guaranteed, the entire Muslim Ummah will have to stand by the people of Palestine.

Peace-loving people of the whole world who have humanity in them will have to stand by the side for the freedom of the Palestinian people.

The root cause of the Israel-Hamas war is the historical injustice towards Palestine.

The root of the Palestine-Israel conflict is the long delay in the implementation of the Palestinian desire to establish an independent state.

The indiscriminate oppression, torture and killing of innocent people including women and children in the conflict, is a gross violation of human rights.

The international community continues to try to end the war without delay and take a stand for the oppressed people. This aggression must be stopped immediately.

(The writer is Registrar, Bangamata Sheikh Fojilatunnesa Mujib Science and Technology)