Monday marked one year of a brutal genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza that feels endless. As if to rub salt into the wound, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced a new offensive on Monday near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, which would displace over 400,000 people from the area. The offensive forced the total evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital and bombed Gaza’s last operating bakery. The brutality of Israel’s actions has become unimaginable for the Palestinians bearing the brunt of 500-pound bombs and also on the consciousness of us — people who care about justice.
The shadows of war have made each of our journeys throughout this year ambiguous and made us ask questions about what is right and what is wrong. Hamas’ attack on 7 October didn’t come as a surprise to me, and it feels risky to share this reaction. This wasn’t a popular sentiment, but in the following months, friends confided they had shared this thought. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live under occupation.
Looking back, what helped me make sense of this was witnessing sumud— the steadfastness for life— in my Palestinian friends and co-workers. I remember receiving an update from the team when new restrictions were imposed; they weren’t able to leave their neighbourhood and make it to the office. Somehow they managed to report on the displacement of twenty-one families in al-Khalil and the intensified home demolitions in Masafer Yatta. When Israel began its genocidal campaign, it underestimated Palestinian sumud. Their war crimes have been met with Palestinian unity, Arab, Muslim and international solidarity, and serious signs of legal accountability. The people of the world have united behind the sumud of the Palestinian people.
I mourn when I see the number of dead, and I struggle not to allow my cynicism to harden my heart. As I watched the numbers come in each day, now estimated to be 200,000 dead, I wondered who they were in their daily lives. I recently learned that 903 families were erased entirely from the Gaza civil registry. There are no words, only a deep grief. We cannot let their story end there. The Gaza Strip is in rubble, but people worldwide are building a movement for justice. I know many of you have been at an action for Palestine this year. Whenever I see pictures of protests worldwide, I am encouraged that our voices are united and we are not silent.
Even though the United States funds this genocide, along with other countries, international consensus on the illegality of its occupation has not changed: In an unprecedented vote in the UN General Assembly, the majority of the world voted that Israel needs to end its “unlawful presence” in the Occupied Territories within the year.
Over the last year, I have come to believe in the power of solidarity. Abubaker Abed, a journalist and translator from Deir al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza, paints solidarity best for me. He writes, “We smile when we see someone, somewhere, anywhere, raise the flag of Palestine in a street or in a football stadium, or a mother putting keffiyehs around her children’s necks and people talking about us as if they are part of us. And surely, they really are.” I hope this inspires you too, to keep taking action for a free Palestine.