OPINION

Israel's War on Children

BY CHRISTIAN JOHN ARGALLON | NOVEMBER 15, 2023

The harrowing scenes of Israel's violent occupation of Palestinian land erupted into a new high as the settler state responded to an attack by the armed group Hamas last October 7 with a continuous barrage of missiles and air strikes. This retributive response focused on the Gaza Strip, a thin strip of land often dubbed as the world's largest open air prison. With the support of major Western powers, Israel has been allowed, with great impunity, to bombard over 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, nearly half of which are children.

One of the most gruesome events of Israel's claimed 'self-defense' was when their air strikes caused a blast in the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, killing nearly 500 people in a single night. There were scenes of children shaking in distress, eyes empty with shock, and parents holding the pieces of their children's remains in plastic bags. The Palestinian Health Ministry blames Israel for the blast while the state vehemently denied these claims, all while continuously warning more hospitals of attacks. Mere weeks after, Israel launched multiple airstrikes on the Jabalia Refugee Camp in multiple days where at least 200 were killed only in the initial attack.

Currently, the situation described above is a nightly occurrence. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has forced the northern half of Gaza to evacuate south in 4 hour daily "humanitarian breaks" in select locations while carrying out its unjustified and aggressive retaliation. This has displaced at least half of the population and forced them to walk kilometers under the sun while raising their hands and waving white cloths of surrender.

At night, Israel targets hospitals, schools, and refugee camps, citing Hamas tunnels running underneath the structures. No claim of these underground corridors have been proven by independent verifiers and journalists. Meanwhile, various United Nations-affiliated organizations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) working in these hospitals and schools have disproven Israel's claims.

Gazans have also raised alarms that their healthcare system is critically failing. With more than half the hospitals already closed because of damage, lack of resources like electricity and water, or forced evacuations, those injured by Israel's aggression have nowhere safe to go. On November 10, Palestinian authorities reported 39 infants under immediate threat of death because of power outages and lack of oxygen.

Immeasurable damage

The cost of Israel's bloodlust in Gaza is incalculable. Palestinian Health Ministry's last update on November 13 reported 11,240 deaths since the bombings began, including 4,630 children. At least 1,500 children are believed to still be buried beneath the rubble of their former homes. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that at its current rate, at least 1 Palestinian child dies every 10 minutes in Gaza. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has stated that around 700,000 children have been displaced. Daily updates on Gazan death toll have been hindered by the government's loss of communication with key hospitals in the strip.

The children that survive each night as bombs rain down on them cannot rest easy when there are no safe places left in their city. If schools, churches, hospitals, and even refugee camps are targeted, no one's life is safe. Nowhere is safe. Videos are even being shared online of children and their parents having to write their names on their bodies for identification should they not live through the night. The state's Ministry of Education has even canceled the school year after an entire year of students died during the attacks.

On November 8, the children of Gaza held a press conference where they invited the world to protect them from the Israeli occupation forces. They explained that their living conditions were harsh; having to drink unclean water, eat unsafe food (if there are any to eat), and continuously have to live through the endless bombs that rain down above them. “We want to live as the other children live,” they said.

Appallingly, this all happens while Israel is claiming to be the victim. The state has a long history of abuses inflicted upon the people of Palestine. Since claiming their lands after World War II, Palestinians have been displaced either violently or under threat from Israel. Any and all forms of resistance, whether peaceful or violent, has been met with death and violence by the Israeli government. To claim victimship after a long recorded history of disparity of power is nothing short of ridiculous and illogical.

Life in Gaza even before the October 7 attack is controlled by Israel. Since 2007, Israel has implemented a blockade of supplies, electricity, and water in the strip, only allowing small portions of each to enter. When the recent attacks began, the state has cut off essentially all resources in the strip, leaving the population dry in the dark and without hope of safety and refuge.

As of November 8, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported at least 1,031 families have been removed from their civil registry because of Israel's continued attacks on Gaza. With Israel only claiming to be defending itself, they have repeatedly justified their actions in Gaza as deserving of support all while dehumanizing those that they have been murdering. Multiple Israeli officials have even referred to the people of Gaza as "human animals" while justifying the atrocities they are committing. In a now deleted post in X (formerly Twitter) by the Israeli Prime Minister, he described his state's action as a battle between the children of light and the children of darkness. He has since repeatedly referred to Palestinians as people of darkness.

The world watches

With the support of the Western powers and a dampened and uncritical coverage by the mainstream media, Israel's apparent war crimes have been massively underreported. It can only be said that this unfolding genocide has been allowed to happen, sanctioned even, by these authorities.

While governments and the dominant media have skirted around the term "genocide," entire bloodlines being annihilated, children being massacred, and the rest of Gazans being outrightly referred to as animals and subhumans by Israeli officials all suggest that it is time to adjust the language on the reporting of the Israeli aggression. To deny the term is to deny the truth of all the various genocides that have happened in history. Palestinians are under genocide.

While the future of Palestine is being threatened now, it is somewhat comforting to see the protests around the world defying their governments' stance with Israel and protesting for a liberated Palestine. Some 2 million people gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia on November 5 to show support for the inhumanely besieged city with protests simultaneously and continuously happening in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, India, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Scotland, Yemen, and Turkey. In the Philippines, Muslim-majority Bangsamoro region started the local pro-Palestine mobilizations and now followed by protests in Diliman, Quezon City, in the Israeli embassy in Taguig City, and in the US embassy in Manila City.

Israel's vile actions with impunity must be faced with the full power of international justice. Though this seems impossible for now – with the number of powerful governments supporting the genocide – Israel has been exposing itself more and more by the day.

The thousands of children that have been killed by the plain, undeniable evil that Israel subjected them to goes beyond statistics. They must not be viewed as mere numbers but be remembered as children whose futures have been forcibly stolen, much like their land has been violently taken from them and their ancestors.

As people with no direct political power in all of this, all we can do now is continue and amplify the calls for a ceasefire and a more permanent solution beginning with Palestine's liberation and freedom to move peacefully in their own land. With the various civil movements that have arisen in response to the Israeli aggression, it is important to remember that the martyred children and civilians have not died in vain and that their deaths would make known their life and the life they should have lived longer.