Can the world hear the cries in Gaza?
Updates emerging from the Gaza Strip over the past few weeks paint a picture that even someone with a modicum of humanity would struggle to imagine: starving human beings being shot at as they desperately seek food aid. On Sunday, Israeli forces again opened fire on Palestinians crowding around aid trucks, killing at least 93 people and injuring dozens more, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. That these individuals went out hoping to get food and were met with death instead is distressing, to say the least.
The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck food convoy faced "massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire" near Gaza City on Sunday. "Hunger makes you desperate," the US-based National Public Radio quoted one of the victims as saying. "I have no food at home. I went out to feed my kids. And this is what happened to me," he said, injured in the head and leg from Israeli tank fire. This cry for help is all too understandable as people continue to die of starvation in Gaza. On Sunday alone, at least 19 deaths from starvation were reported over the previous day, including that of a 35-day-old baby.
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Israel, meanwhile, continues to dispute the numbers presented by the Gaza authorities. Regarding Sunday's incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that soldiers fired "warning shots" at the crowds of aid-seekers to "remove an immediate threat posed to them." If these were truly warning shots, how did so many people end up fatally wounded?
Israel has been running its atrocious campaign in Gaza by weaponising hunger for weeks. In March, it blocked aid from entering the strip. That blockade lasted 11 weeks before it was finally lifted "following pressure from its allies," according to a BBC report. But while Israel eventually allowed aid trucks into Gaza, it started killing those seeking the aid. The UN recently reported that at least 875 aid-seekers were killed at aid distribution points, and along or near the routes of aid convoys, between late May and July 13.
This is a blatant display of disregard for both human rights and international law. What's worse is that Israel is getting away with it while the world watches in silence. How much more must the people of Gaza suffer before they are saved? If world leaders truly stand for humanity, they must come together to stop Israel from continuing its inhuman campaign in Gaza.
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