Gaza Has Gone Dark

It’s hard to exist when you know other people are denied the right to exist.

The media, and the U.S. government, tells us that Israel is acting in self-defense as bombing of Gaza intensifies daily.

For a couple weeks after the current violence began on October 7 no aid or supplies were allowed into Gaza by Israel, who controls everything and everyone that enters and leaves Gaza. Twenty days later, on October 27, OCHA, which coordinates humanitarian aid for Palestinians, reports that the Rafah crossing to Egypt opened for the sixth time since October 21, allowing ten trucks with food water, and medical supplies to enter Gaza. The total number of trucks to enter Gaza, since with aid, since October 7, is 81 trucks. Before “hostilities began” on October 7, about 500 trucks a day entered Gaza with supplies, and even that provide bare-minimum supplies to Gaza.

As part of the same report on October 27 OCHA says that

On 27 October, landlines, cellular and internet services were cut across Gaza, shortly after the Israeli military announced extended ground operations and airstrikes. The main telecommunications tower in Gaza was reportedly struck. Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hastings stated that hospitals and humanitarian operations “can’t continue without communications,” alongside energy, food, water and medications. UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that they had lost touch with their staff in Gaza. Palestine Red Cresent Society (PRCS) expressed concern about its ability to provide emergency medical services. 

How do we carry on with our day knowing that Israel is destroying Gaza – committing genocide, according to Jewish scholars and others – with the full support of the U.S. government?

All politics is local, and our government’s neglect of Palestinian rights has affects our lives, and causes pointless deaths. If there’s any way to exist while you know that genocide being committed half way around of world the answer take action.

Action can take many forms, but to be inactive is to be complicit in what’s turning into a non-televised genocide.