Nadia El-Nakla, SNP Friends of Palestine convenor and wife of Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, writes exclusively for The National as her family shelters from bombs in Gaza
BOMBS dropping like rain. Nowhere to escape or hide. No bomb shelters. There is no place of safety for those living in Gaza.
The Gaza Strip is the world’s largest man-made open-air prison, where one of largest armies in the world bombards a population of nearly two million living in a 25-mile long, seven-mile wide area with the most sophisticated weaponry on the planet.
Aside from the geopolitics of the horrific situation, there is a human cost to the tragedy we see taking place in Gaza and the West Bank.
My grandmother, brother, niece, nephews, sister-in-law, and extended family live in Deir Al Balah, a neighbourhood in Gaza. Right now, I am sick with worry, unable to eat, sleep or breathe easy as I contemplate their reality. An unshakeable feeling of terror as I check my WhatsApp messages constantly to make sure none of my family have been injured or killed.
For any parent, regardless of race or religion, your over-riding instinct is to protect your children. But those in Gaza are utterly helpless. They cannot flee or take refuge with their children as bombs rain down upon them, they have been living under blockade for almost 15 years.
Here is my cousin’s message to me this morning: “You know what is breaking my heart? My children are afraid, I cannot tell them not to be afraid because it is terrifying. I just can’t speak, I hug them, the youngest tried to close his ears.”
This should be no child’s normal.
Thank you to everyone for their kind msgs about my brother-in-law in Gaza. I have passed your kindness, and prayers to my wife and her brother who are taking great comfort in them.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) May 12, 2021
I hope the international community intervenes & actually tackles the root of this conflict.
The Israeli military regime is savage and inhumane, they target residential blocks, giving those living there barely enough time to evacuate before razing their homes to the ground. And once the bombing has subsided, where do those families go? They are not given safe passage or refuge to Israel, the West Bank or Egypt. They become another statistic, another family of refugees the world has forgotten about.
According to many mainstream media outlets this is a conflict between two equal sides. It is not. One is an occupier with the world’s most sophisticated arsenal of weaponry, the other is the one being occupied, who have had their rights systemically eroded for decades.
The media cycle is as predictable as it is offensive. Israel will provoke, this time by using brute force on worshippers during Ramadan, and when Palestinians react, many in the mainstream media demand condemnation of their actions.
Israel is breaking international law and UN resolutions with no repercussions or sanctions. World leaders are still referring to Israel as an ally regardless of how many innocent children are murdered.
Is it just me or do others agree, that if their best friend started killing children, they wouldn’t be friends with them anymore? The calls for sanctions, or any type of meaningful actions, fall on deaf ears, as Western and many Middle Eastern governments turn a blind eye.
READ MORE: What is happening in Israel and Palestine at the Al Aqsa Mosque?
In 2015, during similar attacks, Israel called all the houses in Deir Al Balah, telling them to leave their homes as air strikes would be commencing soon. Evacuate to where? My family had to make the decision whether to all congregate at one house risking my whole family being killed or to spread out among the family homes.
Deciding whether to die together, or to try and save half your family. That is the reality for those in Gaza. And the international community can only talk of restraint. For shame.
We must address the root cause of this conflict that is the continued occupation of Palestine, as opposed to simply decrying the symptoms. If we fail to do so, then many more innocent men, women and children will die, and that should weigh very heavily on our collective conscience.
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