Sabrina Sohail is a student of National Defense University, Islamabad.
Imagine surviving constant bombing in Gaza, only to die from an airdrop package falling on top of your head. That is indeed the reality for Palestinians fighting for a chance to live amid the invasion and famine caused by the Israeli bombing.
Over 155 days have passed since Israel started its ground invasion of Gaza under the pretext of war against Hamas’ terrorism. The said war has had a great impact on the population of Gaza; thousands of people have been killed. The small city of Gaza, once a peaceful land filled with children’s laughter, is now dead. Its residents have had to bury more than 30,000 bodies non-stop for the past 4 to 5 months.
Now, the city is a wreck of buildings that were once homes. Gaza is surrounded from all sides. The people are blockaded and living in dire conditions. Journalists, healthcare workers, and patients have been targeted at large. Any sources of food or clean water have been damaged. If not killed by the bombings, it is clear that the remaining civilians are likely to succumb to starvation or lack of medical care.
The Israeli military has announced that it will not stop until Hamas is destroyed, thus giving a backdrop for their attack in Rafah as well.
Aid or Humiliation
As the world continues to watch the inhumane situation in Gaza, some countries have started raising their voices for the Palestinians. People have been protesting against their government’s actions and boycotting Israeli products. Demonstrations calling for a ceasefire have been seen across the world. While it is a good step and has helped the Palestinians, is it really what they need right now?
The people of Gaza need our support now more than ever. Support, not only in the form of a boycott but also in calling out the hypocrisy of world leaders. The attacks on Palestinian land have been constant since the beginning of the occupation, but after 7th October, they have largely increased. Some scholars speculate that the “7th October incident” was just a tactic to initiate the current genocide.
Not even an aid truck can pass through Gaza to help the distressed people. To add to their misery, powerful nations have decided to throw aid boxes for the Palestinians through airdrops instead of removing the blockade and pushing for a ceasefire. It is not only the delivery of these airdropped packages that is questionable but also how the entire plan was implemented.
On Friday, the US and other countries airdropped essential food items into northern Gaza. According to the US Central Command, President Joe Biden had approved an aid convoy that consisted of 41,400 meals and 23,000 water bottles. However, the residents of Gaza, who had to experience bombs falling from the skies for days, could not resist speculating whether the object heading towards them from the sky was a box of food or a letter of death. For many, it was traumatizing and humiliating to acknowledge that their lives were this cheap for the nations sending humanitarian aid.
Another noteworthy fact was that among these airdrop aid packages delivered to Gaza, were meals that were to be cooked or boiled.
“At a time when you are living in the open sky beside the ruin of your own home, where do the authorities behind this airdrop think we will have the facility to use a stove or have water?” posted a person on social media. Comments underneath this post stated that these nations know the ground realities of Gaza and are just trying to make fun of it at their expense by giving false hope.
Additionally, it is reported that one of the crate’s parachutes did not open, and the food box indeed became a death sentence for five people. Video footage of “parachute fails” shows how the aid act was mismanaged to a catastrophic level.
Paramedics of Al-Shifa Hospital reported that five people were killed, whereas ten others were heavily injured. At such a time when they were desperately holding onto life and fighting for survival, such depraved acts parceled as humanitarian aid only deepened their hatred towards the ambassadors of goodwill and peace.
Gaza has been plunged into a war where no citizen wants to fight. People are pleading for their lives, but their voices are left unheard as they are considered to be harboring terrorists.
Is Israel Eradicating or Nurturing Terrorism?
Researchers have worked for years to identify the causes behind terrorism and how to eradicate it. The root causes that can lead a person to terrorism can vary. They can be religious, psychological, political, or even social.
Two root causes identified by Khalil Azar in his work, “Causes of Terrorism,” are injustice and grievances. When children see their family members brutally murdered and bombed during aid distribution, they are going to feel the injustice that was done to them. Their happy lives would turn upside down, and under such circumstances, there is a high chance that these children would try to avenge their families by joining terrorist factions.
No one grows up and decides to be a terrorist; rather, there are reasons behind such actions and decisions. If these reasons are not addressed, then they give birth to a chain of brutalities.
So, it would be justified to conclude that if the Israeli government continues down this path and remains backed by world leaders, a day will come when they will have to face terrorists of their own making.
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