The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza: 30,000 dead and almost three times as many wounded

What is going on in Gaza is a living nightmare for its inhabitants, who are being deliberately deprived of food just short of actual starvation, in addition to being bombed, shelled and fired at. This strategy aims to break down their resolve to stay in Gaza once the collective punishment meted out to the Gazans will have stopped whilst killing in the meantime as many of them as possible through malnutrition and disease. Of course, such a course of action against a population made up overwhelmingly of civilians (probably at a proportion as high as 98%, given that a maximum of 40,000 Hamas fighters divided by 2,100,000 Gazans × 100 = 1.9%, this as at 7th October 2023) violates the Geneva Conventions, which are supposed to rule modern warfare.

However, the leaders of Israel do not care, just as they do not care about public opinion worldwide or even about the legal proceedings which some countries or individuals brave enough have instituted against Israel. As I see it, the Israeli leadership appears to be pursuing a single goal, namely to make life so unbearable for the Gazans that they will leave the land upon which Israeli bombs, shells and bullets (in quantities so large that Israeli stockpiles have had to be replenished by the US and other countries, thus underscoring these countries’ active complicity in what is going on) have brought so much death, injury, physical destruction and human (as well as animal) misery for over 5 months now. Owing to the numerous clips taken and disseminated over the Internet by soldiers of the IDF themselves, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that the war crimes perpetrated by ‘the world’s most moral army’ (their claim, not mine) are on a par with some of the most horrific war crimes of the past two centuries.

Are we being demoralised on purpose?
For people who are opposed to this ongoing genocide of civilians, that the leaders of the so-called West (because this bloc also includes countries like Japan) have not budged an inch on their policy of leaving Israel carte blanche to slaughter a population trapped and confined now within even fewer square kilometres than before (the full Gaza strip covers only 365 sq km) is a real soul crusher. So much so that it makes me wonder whether the utter feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness that many must invariably feel at such horrific killings occurring on a daily basis without our governments doing anything about such high numbers of civilian being killed might not be some form of trauma-based mind manipulation being exercised against us in preparation for the WHO’s recently pre-announced ‘pandemic X’ and the lockdowns and forced inoculations which in all likelihood would follow if such an outbreak were to happen again.

A glimmer of hope
A little over a week ago, George Galloway, who had worked with Jewish anti-apartheid activists in South Africa before that regime collapsed, was elected MP of Rochdale, a city in England’s Greater Manchester Area. As George Galloway is a supporter of the Palestinian cause, his recent election means that there will be one extra voice in favour of the Palestinians in the British Parliament.  Furthermore, George Galloway obtained more votes than all other candidates of the mainstream political parties combined. As such, this should be viewed as an indication that some parts of Britain are fed up with the British political establishment’s support of the now 5-month-long mass slaughter of the Palestinian people and that some Britons are willing to give their vote to politicians who not only disagree with what is going on in Gaza but also seem to be willing to do something about it.

However, this will not bring back the dead to life or restore the limbs lost or heal the wounds sustained, not to say anything about the trauma and pain suffered. The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza is so overwhelming that it has left me unable to bring my fingers to the keyboard for several weeks, despite several attempts. Of course, this really pales in comparison with the suffering of those enduring such horrors. May the atrocities inflicted upon the population of Gaza end soon and God extend his mercy on them, as the Gazans are human beings, not animals!

Rule 53. The use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited.
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule53

PS Even though there is no Hamas in the West Bank, over 100 Palestinians had been killed in 2023 in that part of the Occupied Territories before the terrible events of 7th October took place; I do not know how many have been left dead by Israeli soldiers/security forces since that date.