Even now, in moments of joy, all we think about are the things we lost, like celebrating a child’s birthday, celebrating the new year, or even the simple pleasure of gathering as a family without fear of the Israeli death that hovers around us.
The Israeli army raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, with more than 350 people inside at the time of the attack. Female staff told journalists that they were forced to strip off their clothes by soldiers and were beaten if they refused.
On December 26, Gaza’s health ministry confirmed the fourth case of an infant freezing to death in 72 hours. A day later, a 28-year-old doctor also died due to hypothermia. There was one common denominator in each death: they were living in tents.
The Israeli army targeted a press van in an airstrike outside a hospital, killing an entire crew from the Al-Quds TV network. One of the journalists was awaiting news from his wife inside the hospital, who was giving birth to their first child.
For 75 days, doctors in this north Gaza hospital have withstood the Israeli army’s attempts to forcibly evacuate them and their patients. In the face of death, the doctors are still refusing to leave, even as the army steps up its attacks.
The Israeli genocide on Gaza has made being a journalist a deadly job. But even the most mundane aspects of journalism, like tracking people down to interview, have become a monumental task in the face of mass displacement and mass destruction.
Israel bombed a number of schools and shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza over the weekend. Witnesses say that the Israeli attacks, which came without warning, caused the bodies of men, women and children to be burned and torn to shreds.
With the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, the truce between Hezbollah and Israel, and reports of progress in Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo, Palestinians in the Strip are hopeful their reality may soon change.
This week, families in Gaza City followed orders to evacuate to a nearby school, and then Israel bombed it, killing 18 people. There is no safe choice for Palestinians when they are forced to decide whether to leave their homes.