Since the beginning of this genocidal war, words have eluded us, and today, I struggle to convey the magnitude of this horrific catastrophe. Yet, the faces of the starving express it fully. Israel is waging a relentless war against Palestinians, sending the message that there is no Palestinian culture, no Palestinian history, no Palestinian people. This isn’t just a lie or a dehumanization tactic; it’s an attempt to seize control of the narrative, rewriting it to fit a distorted version of reality. But that’s the point.
When Israeli officials claim that “the Palestinian nation” has no culture or history, they’re effectively saying there is nothing human, nothing civilized about Palestinians. This framing denies Palestinians the right to exist and gives the Israeli military a pretext to justify its genocidal actions.
If this is the narrative Israel aims to instill in the global consciousness, how can we trust that influential nations, those meant to uphold international law, will do anything but obscure the truth? By casting doubt on the very essence of international law, these powers contribute to stripping Palestinian victims of their humanity.
This dehumanization and denial haunt us every day. Our only visible hope in Gaza has become an end to the war—yet that is merely one of many dreams we have sacrificed. We continue to resist war, fear, and devastation, yet we are exhausted.
We are angry. We feel an injustice that robs us of our voice to confront a world that seems complicit in this stripping of our humanity. And yet, the tragedy lies in seeing the ongoing genocide against Palestinians framed as Israel’s “right to self-defense.”
In this context, logic has fallen silent, national dialogue has withered, and hatred has risen—fueled by a populist thirst for vengeance, a chaotic situation devoid of accountability or the power to confront the arrogance and fabricated narratives justifying Israeli actions. It’s a state of frustration, powerlessness, and, ultimately, abandonment.
Gaza doesn’t need to issue an urgent plea for the world to protect Palestinians from ethnic cleansing and starvation, nor does it need to wait for experts to declare it a famine zone. We are already experiencing hunger; food supplies trickle in through scant humanitarian aid, which barely reaches us. Over a year of continuous genocide, fear, horror, repeated displacement, and starvation has marked our lives, while Israel escalates its campaign of erasure, ethnic cleansing, killing, starvation, and criminal conduct.
This genocide’s intensification breaches every facet of international law, humanitarian standards, and human rights. Western nations and the U.S. have chosen to align themselves with the Israeli occupation’s narrative of a “just war” against Palestinians in Gaza, further eroding the meaning of international law and stripping Palestinian victims of their humanity.
The sight of children, women, men, and the elderly lining up every morning and afternoon before the remaining kitchens for meager portions of cooked food is heart-wrenching. Beyond the pain, it reflects the humiliation, degradation, and stripping of dignity that Palestinians in Gaza are enduring.
These scenes are a stark reminder of the humanitarian catastrophe and the tragedy faced by Palestinians in Gaza. Hunger has become a devastating weapon, with food supplies dangerously scarce. The impact is severe, inflicting suffering no less deadly than the relentless missile strikes that have mercilessly targeted all Palestinians in the area.
The ultimate aim of this war appears to be the establishment of “Greater Israel” and the erasure of the indigenous Palestinian population. Fears intensified following Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, as his support emboldened Israel’s far-right government to escalate the campaign of genocide not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank. Evidence of this lies in recent statements by extremist Finance and Security Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has declared 2025 as the year of sovereignty over the West Bank.
This push for sovereignty means advancing toward annexing the West Bank under Smotrich’s 2017 plan for “Resolution,” which is steadily moving toward reshaping control over the West Bank to enable full annexation. Over the last 20 months, Smotrich’s government has transformed the situation of Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, effecting a significant and, as he claims, irreversible shift on the ground. Through his dual roles in finance and security, he has imposed a vise-like grip on the West Bank, intensifying Israeli authority.
Smotrich’s efforts over the past year have been dedicated to political and military restructuring in the West Bank, partitioning it with hundreds of checkpoints, gates, and settlements. Reports also indicate that Trump’s “gift” to Netanyahu could include recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.
All of this represents a calculated Israeli annexation of the West Bank and further realization of the goal of a “Greater Israel,” driving forward the erasure of the Palestinian population.
Israel’s genocidal tactics are cloaked in false narratives of a “no-choice war” framed as self-defense, actions that target the Palestinian people as they fight for their rightful presence on these lands. This aligns with Israel’s broader ambitions to impose its sovereignty over all of historic Palestine.
What is frightening is that we are witnessing history repeat itself in occupied historic Palestine, with an age-old injustice and international indifference. Worse still is the apparent complicity of Western colonial powers, led by the United States and its transactional approach that favors deals over rights. Compounding this tragedy is the silence of many United Nations member states, the inaction of Arab nations, and a complete collapse of the international system, which was built on the promise of “never again” after World War II.
