SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Hit hardest by the winter were residents of the Gaza Strip which was devastated by Israel’s war last summer. The destruction from Israel’s assaults remain unrepaired as Israel’s occupation prevents financial aid and material aid from being delivered to Palestinians in need. Large waves from rough seas collided with the break wall at the Gaza seaport in Gaza City, during a winter storm. Gaza has been compared to an open-air prison because so many Gazans are now literally left in open air. But people joke wryly that at least prisons have reliable electricity. The suffering here has multiple causes. Israel sustains a siege that amounts to economic warfare on an entire population. The 1.8 million Gazans are on their own, and one step forward should be international pressure on Israel and Egypt to ease the blockade.
This blockade isn’t as dramatic as the bombings, but, in the long run, it’s soul-destroying. Businesses can’t sell their goods; students can’t go to West Bank universities; a wife can’t join her husband. True, Hamas’s misrule is central to the problem, but we don’t have influence over Hamas; we do have influence over Israel. The US and other global powers should call more forcefully on both Israel and Egypt to ease this siege of Gaza.
Due to lack of alternative shelter, many of the nearly 110,000 Palestinians left homeless by Israeli bombardment have done the same, including many living in just tents. Temperatures in Gaza have been hovering only a few degrees above freezing in recent days as a freezing winter storm buffeted the region, flooding some areas in the small coastal enclave. The situation is aggravated by the lack of fuel for electric power, meaning that power is available roughly eight hours a day, with occasional cuts on top of that. If the Muslim world gets the time of their personal conflicts , It is time to think of the plight of the Gazans and raise the voice against the Israel’s genocide of innocent people of Gaza. It is time to help out the children dying of severe frost.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
