“The situation of my family is very difficult, sister. I couldn’t afford food. Everything here is expensive. ” These words were sent to me on March 15 by Ramez, a 17 -year -old boy living in Gaza. “I have nothing to eat tomorrow. I don’t know what to do. Hunger has returned. “
Three days later, just before Suhoor, the last meal before the start of the day of the day during the sacred month of Ramadan, Israel sparked a huge bombing campaign, killing more than 430 Palestinians, including more than 180 children.
“Only God knows what we are going through,” sent me a message branch the next day. “We left without taking anything with us, and now we are on the street. The situation is extremely bad. Everything happened suddenly, and we did not expect it. A massacre occurred right in front of us, and they asked us to evacuate under the bombing. ”
Last year, Ramez contacted me Instagram, a platform that became a life buoy for countless people in Gaza calling the world for help. I do not personally know the Ramez family and I have no historical link with Gaza. However, on the millions of Instagram accounts, his message has found his way to mine.
During the following months, his messages became a window on the daily suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The ceasefire offered a temporary respite from the attack and allowed Ramez to return home. Then, on the second day of Ramadan, Israel cut all the help, triggering famine again. On the 18th day of the sacred month, he renewed his mass massacre.
While I break my fast, here in Berlin, I think of all the Palestinian families who have almost nothing on their Iftar tables, which instead of the call for prayer, hear the Israeli bombardments.
It can’t be real life, right? Humans, a few thousand kilometers away, are literally hungry and die under bombs. And here I am at the heart of the Western world, which professes the values of democracy and freedom and yet, contributes directly to the murder of mass of the people of Gaza.
The taxes I pay as a German citizen go directly to a government which fully supports Israel in its genocidal war against the Palestinians. Thought makes me horrified.
Hunger and genocide in Gaza
Ramez wrote sporadically. I hesitated to ask him for more details, unable to endure the suffering of him and his family daily.
I know there were days when he ate only a few falafel balls and pita bread.
His dreams are to finish high school and study accounting. Instead, day after day, it is forced to contact Instagram users, asking them to donate and share their fundraising link.
His father injured before the war and now lives in constant pain, needing a replacement of the shoulder. He left Ramez responsible for the family.
Ramez has two brothers, aged 15 and 14, and three sisters, aged 20, 12 and 8 years old. His father worked like a water and electric mechanic, while his mother is a housewife.
“Destruction and hunger remain in Gaza,” said Ramez a few weeks after the ceasefire was announced. The situation of his family was still disastrous. Although they received donations from food from humanitarian organizations, it was not enough to meet their needs.
They had returned home in the south of Gaza, in an area where the Israeli bombing had decimated civil infrastructure and buildings.
Ramez had to travel long distances to reach a humanitarian distribution center – often, the transport costs were higher than the value of the aid it received.
Although commercial products are available on the market, his family could not always afford it. They have no source of income outside the occasional donation that they would receive foreigners on Instagram.
After Israel blocked all the help in Gaza, food prices have soamed. Humanitarian aid has decreased, food caregivers and popular soups have closed for the lack of supplies. Ramez’s family has not received any help for weeks.
Now there is only canned food and vegetables on the market, he told me. “I can’t provide anything. I need about $ 100 a day for food because of high prices. ”
On March 15, almost two weeks in the full blocking of Israel in Gaza, UNICEF indicated that the malnutrition rates of children under 2 years of age in northern Gaza had gone from 15.6% in January to 31% at present; 23 children died of malnutrition and dehydration in a few weeks.
The rest of the strip also experienced a strong increase, with Catherine Russell, Director General of UNICEF, noting that “the speed at which this catastrophic crisis in malnutrition of children in Gaza took place is shocking.”
Supporting malnutrition during childhood can have life consequences, including a higher probability of developing non -transmitted diseases and reduced functionality of the immune system. In addition, the development delays induced by malnutrition can cause irreversible deficits in cognitive and motor capacities, a high risk of behavioral challenges and a considerably decrease in educational results.
In other words, the hunger of the children of Israel in Gaza is currently destroying the next generation.
EGAGING on war crimes
In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. He accused both – among other crimes – intentionally hungry for civilians in Gaza.
Western countries that claim to confirm international law have easily declared that they will violate it and welcome Netanyahu. Among them are Hungary, Italy, Poland and Germany.
Friedrich Merz, who is expected to become the next German Chancellor, recently said: “Under my leaders, the Israeli Prime Minister will be able to go to Germany without any problems. I will find ways to get there. “
These statements have indicated that the West did not intend to keep Israeli leaders to account for their crimes. Unsurprisingly, after no consequence for its ICC arrest warrant, Netanyahu decided not only to renew but to strengthen the genocidal famine and the blind bombardment in Gaza.
After Israel completely blocked aid in Gaza, Germany, France and the United Kingdom published a joint declaration saying “a judgment on goods and supplies entering Gaza … risks raping international humanitarian law”.
This answer, which refuses to call a crime, was quite shameful. On March 17, when the British Foreign Minister David Lammy gathered the courage to highlight the evidence – that Israel indeed violates international law with his aid blockade to Gaza – he was reprimanded by his own government.
If deliberately hugging and bombing a civilian population does not break international law, then what is it? The attempted Western governments to minimize and hide Israeli crimes before the public is clear proof of their complicity in these same crimes.
Western governments are forced under international law to take action to arrest serious violations. They should exert diplomatic pressure on Israel, impose arms embargoes, restrict trade and cooperation. But they are not.
Instead of highlighting the complicity of Western governments and failure to act and stop a genocide, the traditional Western media have also ignored Palestinian or worse – by deceiving the public on this subject. Famine in Gaza did not even make the headlines after Israel blocked all the help. The shocking massacre of March 18 did it, but everything was carefully packed with the justification of Israel.
Western media ignore or minimize the genocidal statements of Israeli officials. Most recently, on March 19, the Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, addressed the Palestinian people of Gaza, threatening that they will be confronted with a “complete destruction and devastation” if they do not express Hamas and do not refer the Israeli captives. This threat of genocide was reported as a “warning” and it has not aroused any reaction from the Western allies of Israel, with the exception of a low condemnation of Lammy.
Looking at this emission of empty speech, complicity, betrayal and gas lighting for 17 months is exhausting. It is a destructive narcissistic spectacle of manipulation and power presentation designed to carry those of us who resist the normalization of the genocide – to break us.
But I have reached a point where I refuse to feel helpless and exhausted in the face of this overwhelming perception.
Ramadan is a time when the strength of faith is supposed to be renewed. It is a period of sacrifice but also a period of joy, community and personal growth. I will not authorize Israel and its allies to sabotage my belief in justice. The inhabitants of Gaza have taught us to keep the faith and to remain firm – whatever happens.
I will continue to maintain the conviction that our voices and our actions, whatever the small size, can contribute to change. We must not stop raising awareness and putting pressure on our governments to take measures. Our strength lies to stand together and remember each other to continue to believe, to continue to fight for justice.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.
