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The Israeli crimes on the Gaza Strip and its people continue. The genocide on the Palestinian enclave since no end.
The Israeli onslaught has since 7 October, 2023, killed nearly 40,100 victims, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,600, according to local health authorities.
More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
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“The world is complicit with Israel; If this happened in any European country, how would other countries react?”
This is how a Palestinian from Gaza reacted in an interview to the grim milestone of Israel’s kill count surpassing 40,000, most of whom are women and children.
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UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese comments on Gaza is ‘appropriate’ because of the extent of slaughter committed by the Israeli military on the Palestinian population over the last 11 months.
Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, condemned Israel’s actions, describing Gaza as “the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century.” Albanese accused Israel of systematically genociding Palestinians, targeting one neighborhood, hospital, school, refugee camp, and ‘safe zone’ at a time.
She highlighted the role of US and European weapons in these operations and criticized the indifference of “civilized nations” to the ongoing atrocities according to Al Quds News Network.
In a powerful statement, Albanese expressed deep regret for the international community’s failure to protect Palestinians, lamenting the disregard for the fundamental principles of international law.
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An investigation by Human Rights Watch found that Israeli soldiers executed eight members of the al-Khalidi family. On 21 December, 2023, the soldiers stormed their home in northern Gaza, threw grenades inside, and opened fire on a room where the family was sheltering.
Here’s their harrowing story:
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Sliman Mansour, a prominent figure in modern Palestinian art, emphasized the importance of “rehumanizing” the Palestinian people, noting that he spent his youth fighting against the erasure of Palestinian identity.
“The Israelis and the West – they’ve been trying very hard to dehumanize us. As artists and people who deal with culture, it’s our role to rehumanize the Palestinian people,” Mansour told Anadolu.
The 77-year-old renowned artist, sculptor, writer and cartoonist, who depicts the historical struggle of Palestinians through his paintings, said he sees art as a form of resistance.
Born in 1947 in the town of Birzeit in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mansour has portrayed the Palestinian resistance through his art for over half a century.
“I would like to show that Palestinians cherish their land and are holding onto it, and they are saying in poems about the beauty of the land. In my art, I want to show the beauty of the landscape of the land. I want to show that we live in a very unjust situation,” he said.
‘Don’t forget Palestine’
“I’m not thinking about the whole people. I think about the Palestinian people, and especially those who live outside who never saw Palestine. My message for them is: Don’t forget Palestine and Palestine is beautiful. In my art, there is no message of hate. It’s beauty and love.”
Mansour, who lived through the Six Day War between Arab states and Israel in June 1967, often draws attention to the conflicts and pressures faced by Palestinians.
Using symbols derived from Palestinian culture, history, and traditions, Mansour underscores the deep attachment Palestinians have to their land, which serves as a significant source of inspiration for his work.
“Everybody is fighting about the land, and the land is my main inspiration. I was born in a village and I experienced the land and working in the land and living in a village,” he said. “I think the memories of childhood always stay with people, even if they leave the village. From these memories, I think I take my imagination and I take my inspiration,” he said.
Saying that Jerusalem is a symbol of Palestine, and the Dome of the Rock is a symbol of Jerusalem, Mansour said he reflected this idea in a painting titled, The Camel of Hardships, which contained his first political message.
“But the first main painting that I did that had very obvious political meanings is the old man carrying Jerusalem on his back. I have a big family outside, living in the US and everywhere. I noticed that everybody was outside of Palestine. He goes out and he thinks he’s free from all the political pressures.
“But no, he’s always carrying his Palestinian on his back. If you are a Palestinian, you are a problem just because you exist. I wanted to show this fact about Palestinians who live abroad,” he said.
Mansour said in his 1989 work titled, Rituals Under Occupation, he depicted crowds carrying a cross covered with the Palestinian flag and extending toward the horizon.
He received inspiration from a Palestinian judge who lived in the Old City in Jerusalem and had a son who could not walk. Mansour said the Palestinian identity is a “big burden” for them.
“I talked to him (the judge) and he said that everybody in the world has his own cross, and Palestinian people have, all of them, have one big cross,” he said.
“The Palestinian identity is a big burden for us. Our existence is a problem. The flag became one of the main important images of Palestinian identity. The flag is the Palestinian identity, and it’s forever. We don’t see the end of it,” he added.
Mansur pointed out that one of the most frequently used symbols in his work is the olive tree, highlighting his 2021 piece, From the River to the Sea.
“It’s half olive tree and half orange tree. The olive tree symbolizes the land that was occupied in 1967. The orange tree — it symbolizes the land that was occupied in 1948,” he said.
Olive tree, orange tree
Saying that he does not only address the Israeli occupation but also underscores the resilience of the olive tree in the painting, Mansour clarified: “Olive trees – it can live in very rough places on the mountains and without water, and its roots are very long inside the land.
It symbolizes perseverance and the feeling of being that – holding the land and not giving up. In my opinion, Palestinians are like the olive tree,” he added.
Highlighting the Israeli occupation with barbed wire in his paintings, Mansour said: “Barbed wire symbolizes the occupation. It symbolizes also the settlements.”
“Because in every settlement, you see these barbed wires all around the settlement. For Palestinians, when they see barbed wires, it’s either a settlement or a military base or something. It symbolizes the occupation. They want to forbid you to come near that area,” he said.
Adding he is not always hopeful as an artist, Mansur referred to his 2018 work, Temporary Escape, where he expressed those feelings.
“I made this painting during this time when I felt very, very depressed and hopeless. When you live in occupied land, you are the target of many media people that — they aim to defeat you. I mean, defeat you from the inside. Sometimes they succeed, but then you wake up after a while. This is a fight that you have to go in,” he added.
Mentioning the impact of art on the Palestinian resistance, Mansour stated: “If the artist is really truthful with his feelings, he could be effective or she could be effective.”
“Some artists, they do it just because they have to do it. It doesn’t affect anybody. But my art is still, until now, it’s effective because I do what I like to do. It comes out from my heart,” he said.
“It’s not enough to come from your heart. You have to feel a belonging to the culture of your people. It’s not enough to feel belonging, but you have to study it. If you want to express your art through this culture, you have to know this culture very good. I think I have been through that,” he added in an interview with the Turkish news agency.
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The Hamas Movement has called on Human Rights Watch (HRW) to withdraw its latest report on the Gaza Strip, saying it “lacks professionalism and credibility and is full of lies and blatantly biased in favor of the Israeli occupation state,” according to the Palestine Information Center.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas strongly denounced the fact that an institution that defends human rights had made such a mistake, stressing that “the last HRW report repeats the lies that were made by the Israeli army and its media machine at the beginning of the events to justify its crimes against out people.”
Hamas accused HRW of adopting in its report the entire Israeli narrative and deviating from the scientific research methodology and the neutral legal position, adding that its report became more like an “Israeli propaganda document.”
Hamas affirmed that the HRW report did not talk about the Gaza people’s exposure to killing, destruction, starvation and suffering that goes beyond imagination.
Hamas also said that the report did not mention the number of the martyrs and wounded people that exceeded 120,000 within 285 days and the complete destruction of hospitals, universities, schools and infrastructure, “while the Israeli occupation’s killing machine persists in its crimes with full US and Western support.”
“The Palestinian people have the right to resist the occupation, the root of all evil, with all means and in accordance with what is enshrined in divine laws and international conventions,” Hamas stressed, adding that HRW ignored what the Palestinians in Gaza had suffered from repeated wars, killing, torture and siege before October 7, 2023.
“The [HRW] report deliberately has ignored on purpose the crimes that were committed by the Nazi occupation army on October 7 against our people in Gaza, and even against Israeli civilians who were bombed along with Palestinian fighters by warplanes and tank projectiles,” Hamas said.
“This international organization’s report has confirmed its inhuman bias when talking about Israeli prisoners who are being held by the Palestinian resistance and the need to release them immediately, without demanding the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, men, women and children, [from Israeli jails]” Hamas added.
The Hamas Movement has held HRW fully responsible for what was mentioned in its report that justified Israel’s crimes, stressing that the report damaged HRW’s image.
This article is reprinted from the Palestine Information Center’s website
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Nine out of 10 children in Gaza suffer from sever malnutrition according to UNICEF. The malnutrition manifested itself after the 7 October, 2023 war when Israel promised it would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza denying the 2.2 million population electricity, food, water and fuel.
“Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 have consistently found that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing sever food poverty, surviving on two or fewer fewer group per day,” a UNICEF report quoted by Palestinian news agency Wafa.
UNICEF added months of agression – this is the start of the nine month of war that Israel waged on Gaza – has resulted in the complete destitution and displacement of people who are being forced to move from one area to another in the enclave as their houses are being bombed.
To meet the minimum level of dietary diversity for healthy development, “children must consume foods from at least 5 of the 8 food groups determined by the dietary diversity score used by UNICEF and WHO,” as pointed out in Al Jazeera.
The hunger and malnutrition is being exacerbated by the intence bombing the Gaza Strip has been subjected to in this war that saw Israel drop 70,000 tons of explosives on the enclave.
Tel Aviv’s “indiscriminate attacks” on Palestinian children and women are “clearly Israeli war crimes,” said the head of a Norwegian non-governmental organization, as quoted by the Anadolu Turkish news agency.
“It is obscene to continue waging war through refugee camps. Even if Hamas committed the war crime of hiding fighters among displaced civilians, these continued, indiscriminate attacks killing scores of children and women are clearly Israeli war crimes, he said on the X platform.
His comments came after at least 39 displaced Palestinians were killed, Thursday, in Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the central Gaza Strip, according to Gaza authorities.
UNICEF: ≈
Nine out of 10 children in Gaza suffer from sever malnutrition according to UNICEF. The malnutrition manifested itself after the 7 October, 2023 war when Israel promised it would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza denying the 2.2 million population electricity, food, water and fuel.
“Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 have consistently found that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing sever food poverty, surviving on two or fewer fewer group per day,” a UNICEF report quoted by Palestinian news agency Wafa.
UNICEF added months of agression – this is the start of the nine month of war that Israel waged on Gaza – has resulted in the complete destitution and displacement of people who are being forced to move from one area to another in the enclave as their houses are being bombed.
To meet the minimum level of dietary diversity for healthy development, “children must consume foods from at least 5 of the 8 food groups determined by the dietary diversity score used by UNICEF and WHO,” as pointed out in Al Jazeera.
The hunger and malnutrition is being exacerbated by the intence bombing the Gaza Strip has been subjected to in this war that saw Israel drop 70,000 tons of explosives on the enclave.
Tel Aviv’s “indiscriminate attacks” on Palestinian children and women are “clearly Israeli war crimes,” said the head of a Norwegian non-governmental organization, as quoted by the Anadolu Turkish news agency.
“It is obscene to continue waging war through refugee camps. Even if Hamas committed the war crime of hiding fighters among displaced civilians, these continued, indiscriminate attacks killing scores of children and women are clearly Israeli war crimes, he said on the X platform.
His comments came after at least 39 displaced Palestinians were killed, Thursday, in Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the central Gaza Strip, according to Gaza authorities.
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Palestinians are struggling with famine and trying to satisfy their hunger by eating tree leaves in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been carrying out attacks for nine months.
Said Abu Abdo, who lives in Gaza City, is searching for ways to convince his son Majid, 8, and daughter Sara, 5, to eat mulberry tree leaves cooked with rice he tells Anadolu.
Abu Abdo tries to persuade the children, noting that they are similar to the grape leaves they used to eat before Israel began attacking.
But due to their bitter taste, the children refuse to eat.
The effects of famine, with the lack of necessities in the area, are clearly visible from the weak bodies, pale faces and tired expressions of Abu Abdo and his children.
“Famine is haunting Gaza City and the north once again. The situation is getting worse. With Israel closing the border crossings and blocking aid and supplies, we have resorted to eating tree leaves,” he told Anadolu.
Abu Abdo highlighted that Israel’s targeting of health services has exacerbated malnutrition, weakened immunity and the spread of infectious diseases due to an inadequate health care infrastructure and restricted access to aid and supplies.
He is concerned about his children, who have contracted contagious diseases like hepatitis and gastroenteritis multiple times because of the absence of proper and healthy food.
Israel’s control of border crossings and blocking humanitarian aid has caused famine to reappear in northern Gaza and Gaza City.
Palestinians are relying on canned food and wild plants for sustenance.
‘We’ve had to eat anything and everything imaginable to stave off hunger’
In Gaza City, Mahmood el-Bawab, 28, could not buy most of his family’s basic needs at the es-Sahabe market due to shortages.
Like other markets in the region, the market is also empty, and Palestinians, struggling with economic difficulties due to Israeli attacks, can hardly find anything to buy except some vegetables and products that have significantly increased in price.
Essential items like vegetables and fruits are scarce, causing prices to soar. Tomatoes are around $30 per kilogram (2.2 pounds), onions about $60 per kilogram, cucumbers $15 each and eggs $4 each.
“Prices have skyrocketed insanely and the available products are previously stored and low-quality. Due to limited cash, we can only buy these products in very small quantities,” he told Anadolu.
He said his family is trying to cope with the famine. “There’s nothing we can eat — no vegetables, fruits, meat, nothing. We’ve had to eat anything and everything imaginable to stave off hunger: animal feed, tree leaves, wild plants and expired food.”
People have been hospitalized due to illness and poisoning caused by unhealthy eating habits, he noted.
The director of the Kemal Advan Hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia, Husam Abu Safiye, also said that signs of famine have appeared in Gaza City and northern areas.
Abu Safiye said in the past week, four children have died from malnutrition upon arrival at the hospital, and in the last two weeks, 250 children were hospitalized for malnutrition and fluid loss.
Gaza journalists note hunger
“I am a journalist from the northern Gaza Strip. I am hungry, and my family has been away from me for eight months. I have lost more than 20 kilograms during the war,” said Mahmud El-Awadiyye, a journalist from the El-Meyadin television channel.
“I want to eat, but there’s nothing to be found. We haven’t had meat for months,” Awadiyye lamented on social media.
Mahmud el-Amudi, who works at Aksa’s Voice Radio posted on Facebook about his struggles. “I still haven’t had lunch because my stomach burns from eating bread, dukkah (a mix of nuts and spices), and powdered red pepper.”
One journalist said hunger surrounds him in Gaza.
“I am journalist Usame el-Asiy. My wife is pregnant and very hungry. I am very afraid for her because of her hunger. My family, friends, and neighbors are also hungry,” he said.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group, Hamas.
More than 37,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 86,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the attacks before it was invaded on May 6.
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Latest global purchasing survey shows 1 in 3 consumers are boycotting brand names over the Israeli war in Gaza.
The survey made by the Edelman’s public relations firm polled 15,000 consumers around the world across 15 countries that included USA, France, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, UK, India and Indonesia.
The consumer boycotting brands include Starbucks, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola with news of the Trust Barometer report currently trending on the social media.
The top five consumer boycotting countries are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia, India and surprisingly Germany. In Saudi 72 percent of those surveyed said they are boycotting international brands followed by 57 percent in the UAE because of the Israeli war on Gaza now in its ninth month.
Respondents perception is the major reason for their boycott, saying they believe one side is actively supporting the other in the genocide on Gaza.
One commented this is a shocking surprise for the boycott’s enemies and a joyful surprise for its supporters while another said this is a reminder to the “boycotts don’t work idiots.”
The boycott campaign has been strongest in the Middle East when many consumers stopped buying products and/or frequenting brand cafes with international tag names associated with Israel.
Further, the campaign took off last October after McDonald’s Israel’s “franchise announced it was giving free meals to Israeli soldiers in its branches in the country,” according to Middle East Eye. Its CFO Ian Borden says it lost $7 billion because of the boycott.
