6… 7… 8… 9… 10 months of Hell and Inhumanity in Gaza
A Preface to the Development of This In-Depth Article
I initially started drafting this at the beginning of April, as we approached the six-month mark of Israel’s genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza. I’m sorry it took me so long to write this, and the fact that another four months have already passed is gut-wrenching.
Because I don’t want to separate the raw emotion I’ve felt from what I’ve seen while also making sure I am thorough and well-researched, this article is both an editorial-style piece and an in-depth summary coverage of the genocide. Due to its length, I will break up its publication into multiple pieces. It is a lot of information all at once.
Before I get into everything, I want to say that I am sincerely grateful for my audience’s and community partners’ patience with me writing about the genocide again. I hope my lack of coverage did not appear as me being silent or giving up.
In addition to other things that hindered me from finishing this in a timely manner, my mom received a diagnosis a few months ago that has overtaken our daily lives. I won’t discuss that in detail here; I just want people to understand that I didn’t intend to stop covering what was happening.
And so much has been and is happening every single day with the genocide. Whenever I saw some new horror or news story, I tried to note it. But I know I’ve missed far more than what I’ve written here over the past several months of trying to complete this. It’s been tough keeping up and overwhelming at many times. If I’d been able to maintain a sliver of the endurance that my community partners and other creators or journalists I follow who’ve been covering the genocide non-stop, this article would have been several smaller articles and provided much more attention to each facet individually. This article is long, yet it only scratches the surface of things.
I wish to say to my community partners, as well as the journalists, creators, and other people who’ve ceaselessly and thoroughly covered everything and been active every day of this genocide–you are the most inspiring people on this planet to me. I wish you all the support and rest you so genuinely deserve after these past ten months.
While I tried engaging in other ways by writing poetry, making art, and keeping the conversation about the genocide going with people around me at every opportunity, I wish I’d been capable of doing more these past several months. It was better than nothing, but it felt like nothing compared to the people doing the real work.
I hope this article honors the work of everyone who has continued to bear witness since the beginning and is actively involved in organizing to stop the genocide.
Ten Months, 305+ Days of Genocide in Gaza
At the time of this article’s publishing, it has now been TEN FUCKING MONTHS since Israel started its war on Gaza; ten months and 76 years of genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and the absolute worst of humanity; ten months and the numbers keep rising in every way you can think of, and the atrocities just keep happening.
In other words, it’s been 305+ days of witnessing some of the most heinous, evil acts we’ve ever seen happen in real time. All while our government does nothing to stop it. Worse than nothing, our government continues to excuse, support, aid, and abet it on our dime. On top of that, our politicians turn a blind eye to Nazis marching in the street while condemning pro-Palestine protestors, calling them antisemitic and ‘unpatriotic‘ for demanding a ceasefire and wanting the genocide to end.
For the past 305+ days, I have been bombarded with news, images, and videos of the most horrific things. It is a never-ending cycle, seeing the next worst thing every day over the past ten months. But bearing witness is the least one can do while real people are bombarded with actual bombs that our country paid for. So, I’ve continued the cycle every day and tried to keep track of what’s happening.
What I’ve Witnessed the Past Ten Months From Reports in Gaza
Two Recent Stories From Gaza That Were Especially Difficult to Come Across
I often think, ‘I don’t know how anything worse can be possible.’ But then, one day, I scrolled and saw the uncensored video of a distraught man holding a decapitated baby, fires raging in the background from another bombing, the infant, another martyr in the genocide. That baby’s name was Ahmad Al-Najjar. He was one-and-a-half. They never found his head, and they buried him without it.
That was late May. That image is still burned into my mind and will be forever. The drawing below is in honor of Ahmad. I couldn’t think of anything else but that image for days after seeing it, so I had to find a way to do something about that grief. Since then, I have seen several other beheaded children and people. It never gets any easier. I don’t think it will, and I don’t even think it should; it’s not supposed to be “easy” seeing these images.
I’ll never forget the things I’ve seen. And, every day, I see the next worst thing I’ve ever witnessed. Every day, I’m reminded of the depravity humans are capable of. But somehow, I’m simultaneously reminded of how much beauty a human soul can possess in the most tragic ways possible.
One such example was a story that completely wrecked me. It was about Muhammed Bhar, an autistic man with Down syndrome who IDF soldiers sicced a military dog on. As the dog mauled him, his last words were, “Enough, my dear, enough.” He patted the dog’s head while it tore his arm and body apart. The Israeli military left Muhammed there to die alone, refusing to let his family see him for a week.
More of the Depravity I’ve Witnessed
I have seen pictures and videos of deceased children, their bodies nothing more than skin and bone, because Israel starved and dehydrated them to death by blocking aid into Gaza and destroying food and water resources. I’ve seen dead children with missing limbs and sniper bullet wounds to their heads and chests, a testament to the intent of their death. You don’t “accidentally” shoot a child in the head or chest, especially not this many children, as one American doctor who went to Gaza earlier this year, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, reported to CBS.
The videos I’ve seen of living children are no better, as they scream while being treated without anesthetics after having bombs dropped on them, their limbs ripped apart, and their tiny, fragile bodies dismembered and maimed. I’ve seen some children emaciated and frail from starvation and malnutrition, with their bones sticking out, their faces gaunt, and the light gone from their eyes.
I witnessed children cry in hunger and thirst and heard others cry for their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, followed by their screams of agony after learning their entire family was killed. And I have seen videos of parents agonizing over the deaths of their children, over babies who were only recently born amid chaos only to die shortly after. I have learned about women giving birth in tents with no medication and without having eaten anything for days or weeks and those who died in labor along with their children.
I’ve seen reports of men, women, and children being raped and abused in the most horrendous ways, as if rape itself wasn’t horrendous enough. And I have seen reports of people protesting for the right to rape people as a form of torture after reports came out of soldiers raping Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. This particular aspect will be discussed in depth in one of the split parts of this article, as it is a recent, developing situation.
Watching the World Turn Away
Altogether, I’ve seen too many dead children and people and have learned about so many horrors in the past several months. I can’t fathom how so many people continue to feel unmoved by the sheer magnitude of evil happening live on our screens day after day. How can people ignore, excuse, or support it with all the evidence laid out before us? Each new thing I see or learn about makes me want to scream or vomit in disgust and anger.
From an anecdotal aspect, I’d like to add an observation that many of the same people who preach about “protecting children” or “protecting women” are the ones I see justifying these atrocities affecting women and children. I’ve seen plenty of people of all political backgrounds justify or excuse the genocide, but I see a lot of people who claim to be “pro-life” who are incredibly pro-death when it comes to Palestinian people or children.
Even more egregious is how many world governments keep ignoring the genocide and allowing it to continue. Our own government continues to fund it with billions of our tax dollars, and expects us to continue like that’s normal. To see people unresponsive to all of this is soul-crushing and maddening. As if seeing blatant crimes against humanity is “normal.” As if seeing dead people and children, or decapitated babies, every day for almost a year (or any length of time) is “normal.”
If this is “normal,” something is horribly, painfully, and deeply wrong with our world. Something must change fundamentally. We must bear witness to what is happening, take action, and demand an end to the genocide.
Highlights of Horror – Death Counts
The Numbers Over Ten Months (305+ days) in Gaza
Let’s recap the horror of the last ten months and other major recent events of the ongoing genocide. While the entirety of the initial article highlights the deaths witnessed, this section of the split-up article will focus on the general death counts.
Since October 7, 2023, and as of August 6, 2024, these are the latest casualty numbers and other counts, per Al Jazeera’s Live Tracker Page:
- Gaza
- Killed: at least 39,653 people, including more than:
- More than 15,000 children killed
- Injured: more than 91,553 people
- Missing: more than 10,000
The missing 10,000+ people are otherwise presumed dead, still under the rubble – meaning that the estimate is, in actuality, at least 50,000 lives. However, even this is expected to be an undercount, which I will discuss in the next segment.
Another devastating aspect to focus on is how many children Israel has killed. A single child killed was one too many. Now, at least 15,000 have been killed, that we know of. It sickens me even to consider how many more tens of thousands of children there are unaccounted for.
What is also notable is that these numbers are roughly the same numbers I noted when I tried to work on this a couple of months ago, on May 28, 2024. As has been noted across many different outlets, the reason why the death count has appeared to remain the same for several months now is that fewer people are alive to report the deaths.
Moreover, in just the past few months alone, Israel has bombed Rafah and other parts of Gaza multiple times, destroying refugee camps and burning people alive in tents. Israel has also constantly evacuated refugee camps, telling people to go to a “safe zone” and then bombing the safe zone with little warning to evacuate.
This never-ending relocation tactic has been compared to Nazi death marches as it appears Israel is attempting to wear out the refugees in Gaza. Every time they are moved and bombed, they have fewer resources, less food and water, and we witness even more death and destruction. And as more people die, we have an ever-shrinking window into their plight. Fewer survivors means fewer witnesses.
Recent Estimate of Almost 200k Underreported Deaths
As mentioned above, it’s expected that the current death toll is an undercount. According to the recent correspondence report in The Lancet Medical Journal, the estimate is likely closer to almost 200,000 deaths.
Per MSNBC, “More than 186,000 deaths in Gaza could result from the Israel-Hamas war, according to an analysis published by The Lancet medical journal.” The report also states that “The analysis… published in The Lancet’s correspondence section, was not peer-reviewed, but it underscores the difficulty of accurately documenting the conflict’s death toll.”
This difficulty in accurately documenting the death toll stems from a few factors. For one, there are still thousands assumed dead but unaccounted for under rubble. Thousands more have died from starvation, dehydration, malnutrition, and sickness. And on top of COVID cases in Gaza, refugees are also now dealing with an increase in Hepatitis A cases from dirty water, with over 100,000 cases reported. And Polio is now spreading undetected in the area. With the endless reports of deaths from airstrikes, starvation, sickness, and everything else, it seems reasonable that the Lancet’s correspondence report has merit.
In addition, multiple mass graves have been uncovered in recent months, with hundreds of bodies found in their depths. With an undiscovered and unknown number of mass graves that we’ll likely discover more of in the future, there are so many deaths yet to be counted.
Given that it’s estimated that half of the deaths, reported and underreported, were women and children, this means that it’s likely for 100K+ deaths to have been women and children. And the numbers continue to rise.
Moreover, as Israel kills more people in Gaza, fewer people are left to count the dead or report what’s happening, contributing to the death toll’s slow update in recent months. And seeing that Israel is already bulldozing and cleaning up areas it’s systematically destroyed and ethnically cleansed to make way for real estate properties, I fear we’ll never learn the actual death toll as the bodies of those unaccounted for are swept away. In the process, war crimes and genocide are covered up.
Changes to Israel’s Death Toll and The Hannibal Directive
It is important to note that Israeli officials revised the death toll from the October 7 attacks down from 1,405 to 1,139 people killed by Hamas. NPR reported this revision in November, which stemmed from some bodies being misidentified initially. It was reported that those people were members of Hamas.
Earlier this month, other outlets reported that the Israeli military deployed its ‘Hannibal Directive’ during the Nova festival attack. This is thought to have resulted, in part, to those now revised numbers, as we learned the Israeli military itself killed some of those people. However, from the reports about the Hannibal Directive being used, not everyone they killed was Hamas. Some were Israeli citizens.
According to Al-Jazeera, this protocol allows the military to use all necessary force to prevent the capture of soldiers. An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz found that Israel implemented it during the October 7 Hamas-led attacks, resulting in the loss of both civilian and military lives.
This means that the IDF killed some of its own citizens and military members during the initial attack. And since October 7, it’s been reported that Israel has even killed some of the hostages in the process of its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. According to CNN, a Hamas official stated that it is unknown how many of the estimated 116 remaining hostages are still alive in Gaza. As the war continues and a ceasefire is not agreed upon, there might not be any hostages left to save.
People Comparing and Justifying Deaths
One thing that I’ve seen repeated over the last ten months is the notion that the 1,139 Israeli deaths on October 7 justify the 50,000+ deaths (that we know of) in Gaza and war crimes from the ongoing genocide. People argue that it’s okay for a government to slaughter tens of thousands of innocent civilians and children to avenge those killed. Yet, every month, the number of deaths in Gaza increases, and the genocide continues.
To be clear, I in no way mean that to lessen the loss of life from the October 7 attack. Any loss of life is tragic, and the terrorist attack that took those lives in October was abhorrent. But so is the act of killing any number of people in blind retaliation or the pursuit of Zionism. To carry out genocide in the name of lives lost and justify the murder of an ever-growing number of innocent people is inexcusable.
Not to mention that it’s important to remember that Netanyahu was warned well in advance about this impending attack, but he allowed it to happen anyway.
In his desire to wipe out Hamas and his simultaneous disdain for life in the process by using any means necessary, including committing war crimes, Netanyahu also boldly highlights his desire to wipe out all Palestinians. It seems the unending carnage is never enough to avenge those initial deaths or the hostages while simultaneously ignoring when the carnage takes the lives of those hostages Israel is supposed to rescue. Instead, these means to an end suggest that rescuing the hostages is not Netanyahu’s true end goal in this war. It also gives insight into why he refuses to agree to a permanent ceasefire despite the release of all hostages being offered in exchange for that assurance.
Enough is Enough
The death of one innocent person already goes too far. Yet, in the process of killing tens of thousands of men, women, and children, Israel has wiped out entire family lines these past ten months. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas–all gone in a flash of light. And now we live in a world where the phrase ‘Wounded Child, No Surviving Family’ (WCNSF) exists as a direct result of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. I don’t understand how anyone can be okay with that or continue to debate and justify these atrocities.
It becomes more and more apparent as each day passes that Netanyahu’s goal is not simply to eradicate Hamas; it is to eradicate Palestine and Palestinians entirely and build a ‘Promised Land’ on the mass graves of those it slaughters in the process. This is not a nation simply trying to protect itself; it is an apartheid state actively committing genocide and ethnically cleansing an entire group of people. And our tax dollars are funding that death and destruction with each bomb dropped and each child murdered.
To justify slaughtering an entire group of people, to kill children, is pure depravity; it’s beyond evil. That shouldn’t even be a discussion or argument. And I hate that I live in a world where that’s debated. If you can argue that it’s acceptable to kill children, you’ve lost all humanity.
Preview of the Next Section
The next part of this split article will cover the destruction and devastation in Gaza, as well as some of the many war crimes Israel has committed in recent months. In particular, the next part will highlight the deaths of journalists covering the genocide, the massacre of the World Central Kitchen aid workers, and more. The third part will cover some of the responses to the genocide, as well as other recent developments.
I will link those as they are published.
In the meantime, visit the Protect Palestine resource page to find ways to take action and help end the genocide. There are tasks you can do in just three minutes that have a real impact. If you’re interested, check out other posts we’ve published about the genocide. I also encourage Nevadans and Las Vegas locals to read more about Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation, and follow them on Instagram.
Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far.
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