Words run out to relate Palestine pain

Tens of thousands of people around the world took to the streets Sunday just ahead of the one-year anniversary of Israel’s catastrophic assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 people, decimated the enclave’s civilian infrastructure, and sparked one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history.

The assault, backed by the United States and other world powers, began in the wake of a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 that killed roughly 1,200 people. Hundreds of others were taken hostage, dozens of whom are still being held captive in Gaza.

The Israeli military’s subsequent onslaught has spared no one: Children, nurses and doctors, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, and Israeli hostages have been killed in the bombing campaign and ground war, which appears set to continue indefinitely as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sabotages cease-fire efforts.

Netanyahu, along with Hamas leaders, is facing a possible arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), an advocate group that campaigns for Palestinian rights, held demonstrations in U.S. 26 cities on Sunday to “mourn a year of death and destruction” and call on their government to “stop arming the Israeli military” as it continues to bombard Gaza and ramps up its attacks on Lebanon.

As the demonstrations took place, Israel’s military killed dozens of Gazans in an attack on a mosque and school in central Gaza. A fragment of an American-made bomb kit was found at the scene.

“After a year of genocide against Palestinians, the Israeli government is waging a campaign of death and destruction that has brought the Middle East to a state of war, with millions currently fleeing U.S.-made bombs,” JVP said in a statement. “From Portland to Knoxville, from Detroit to Los Angeles, from Tacoma to Milwaukee, to Boston to Atlanta, and so many more cities across the country, Jewish Voice for Peace members gathered in prayer and song to demand an immediate weapons embargo.”

Demonstrations also took place in Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, South Africa, the Philippines, and other nations, with protesters calling for an immediate arms embargo and cease-fire.

“We need a cease-fire now, a suspension of arms transfers to Israel, and unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid,” said Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at the U.K.-based group Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). “We need all of this to stop a potential genocide and protect Palestinian survival in Gaza and, increasingly, across the region.”

MAP’s Gaza director, Fikr Shalltoot, added that “we have run out of words to describe the horrors our teams are witnessing and experiencing in Gaza.” “Frequent mass killings of civilians, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and the systematic destruction of healthcare are an existential threat to people,” said Shalltoot. “Gaza is being erased in front of our eyes.”

Palestinian officials said Sunday that around 50 people had been killed by Israeli forces in the preceding 48 hours in attacks on schools, homes, and shelters for displaced people.

Reutersreported that the Israeli army on Saturday “issued new evacuation orders in parts of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, just north of Deir al-Balah, forcing hundreds of families to leave their houses.” Additionally, “Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.”

The new operation in northern Gaza came amid reports that top Israeli officials are weighing what one outlet described as “a plan to liquidate northern Gaza,” which is facing famine conditions caused by Israel’s war and siege. In a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and the start of Israel’s latest military assault on Gaza, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday that “the war that has followed the terrible attacks of one year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon.”

“It is time for the release of the hostages,” said Guterres, who last week was declared persona non grata by Israel’s foreign minister. “Time to silence the guns. Time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region. Time for peace, international law, and justice.” (https://www.commondreams.org/)