Israeli Slow-Motion Genocide in Gaza
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Illegally and ruthlessly besieged for over a decade, Gaza is a virtual Israeli concentration camp, its two million trapped residents held hostage by Ziofascist viciousness.
The world community refuses to hold Israel accountable, failing to end Gazan suffering – complicit with Israel for not intervening responsibly.
B’Tselem discussed “women trapped in Gaza away from their homes and partners,” explaining:
Complicit with Egypt controlling Gaza’s Rafah crossing to its territory, Israel controls the Strip’s land and sea borders, prohibiting travel outside Gaza without permission, granted only for Israeli-defined humanitarian cases and small numbers of Palestinian merchants.
Gazans able to exit via Rafah on rare days when allowed “have to travel along a lengthy, dangerous route through the Sinai,” B’Tselem explained, adding:
“(I)n 2017, Palestinians and Egyptians at Rafah Crossing started demanding a bribe of some 3,000 USD to let people through” – an extortion amount few Gazans can afford.
Strip unemployment is among the world’s highest, 80% of residents relying on inadequate amounts of humanitarian aid to survive.
Some women are trapped in Gaza separated from loved ones abroad, enduring enormous hardships – on their own with no family support system, no work, no source of income, seeking aid from whatever sources can provide it.
Rafah crossing is the only way out of Gaza. “Thousands of people have registered with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to leave, including students, persons in need of medical care, and people with foreign passports who came to visit relatives – as well as hundreds of married women who live with their families outside Gaza and came to visit relatives,” B’Tselem explained.
Israel conspired with Egypt to keep Rafah crossing closed year-round with occasional openings alone, imprisoning two million Gazans, forcing them to endure deplorable conditions.
Hanin al-Jakhbir, aged-26, married and mother of two-year-old Lana, unable to leave the Strip for over a year, explained her plight as follows:
“A few days after we got to Gaza, I registered to leave via Rafah Crossing with the Ministry of the Interior.”
“I was planning to go back to Egypt once Lana’s birth certificate came through. We got the certificate in mid-February 2017 and wanted to go home. I have residency status in Egypt that is valid for five years, and Lana has an Egyptian passport.”
“In February and March, Rafah Crossing opened for only three or four days at a time, and that wasn’t enough for all the people who registered to leave.”
“At the crossing, I was told that our names weren’t on the travelers’ list. Then the crossing stayed closed for three months straight, and being far from my husband really began to take a toll on me mentally. My daughter also suffered without her father.”
“He kept in touch with us regularly, asked how we were and told me how hard it was for him to be alone. Now, Lana has started calling her grandfather ‘Baba’ because she doesn’t know her father any more.”
“Her grandfather and uncles hug her, but she doesn’t really know what it’s like to have her father’s embrace. I don’t know what my daughter and I did wrong, and what will happen to us if the crossing doesn’t open.”
“We’ve been stuck in Rafah for a year and my husband is trying to get help from the Egyptian embassy in Gaza and from the Palestinian embassy in Egypt to solve our problem.”
“In 2017, Rafah Crossing opened several times, each time for a few days in a row, lastly in November, but mostly for students who are also stuck here.”
“I decided to go to the crossing and try my luck, maybe I’d get through. I went alone, just to see if there was any chance.”
“I got to the waiting lounge and a Palestinian officer promised me we would be able to get us through. I called my mother and asked her to bring my daughter and the luggage.”
“When they got there, the officer said I had to choose between my daughter and the luggage, because things were tight and the buses were completely packed.”
“I gave up the suitcases, and we waited in the lounge for another hour or so, and then another two hours in the bus.”
“Then one of the Egyptian officers announced that the crossing was closed and that all the buses waiting there could not go through.”
“I became hysterical, I went crazy. I waited all day and suddenly the officer declared it’s closed until further notice.”
“My husband, who had already set out to meet us at the other end, had to turn around and go home after traveling for four hours – about half the way.”
“We had both been physically and mentally exhausted for nothing. It was very frustrating and we felt it was an injustice.”
“On top of my tension and exhaustion from that whole day, my husband who traveled half the way to the crossing felt very frustrated and that an injustice had been done to us.”
Countless other Gazans wanting to exit the Strip are denied their right of free movement like Hanin.
They include many seriously ill, needing treatment only available abroad.
Students awarded scholarships to foreign universities can’t get there. Numerous other examples explain the suffering of besieged Gazans, victims of Israeli ruthlessness.
Nothing in prospect suggests relief is coming. Their suffering continues at the hands of a ruthless occupier because the world community refuses to help.
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