What if it was your home and your family? What if it was Calgary?
Over 221,760 Palestinians injured
1.1 million Palestinians forced into catastrophic hunger by Israel .
42,000 Palestinians missing (presumed dead, kidnapped by Israel’s occupying forces (IDF) or possibly trafficked)
Over 14,408 - 255,985 Palestinians dead from man-made epidemics and preventable widespread illnesses resulting from Israel’s assault and siege on aid.
Over 180,000 Palestinians are killed in Gaza by Israel since October 7th, 2023
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For 76 years, Israel has maintained a brutal colonial campaign against Palestine. For 17 years Palestinians in Gaza have been suffering under Israel’s illegal militaristic blockade. Israel heavily monitors what enters and leaves the strip, often restricting and preventing basics from entering and leaving. Israel routinely cuts Gaza’s food, water, and electricity causing Palestinians to experience dehydration and electrical black-outs for up to 11-12 hrs. daily as well as routinely bombing civilians in Gaza, destroying homes, as well as killing and displacing many - making life in Gaza often unbearable.
What is Gaza and why do we care?
Gaza is a strip of land 10km (6 miles) wide and 41km (25 miles) long. It is home to an astounding 2.3 million people who have been under an Israeli land, sea and air blockade since 2007. The Gaza strip is one of the densest populated areas in the world.
An astonishing 85% of people in Gaza are internal refugees displaced from historic Palestine. Historic Palestine includes modern day Gaza, the West Bank, and what we now call Israel. Before majority of Palestine was annexed, it was home to Palestinian Natives for centuries. Ever since the creation of Israel in 1948, Native Palestinians have been continually murdered and displaced in order to provide a home for Zionist settlers from across the world. The genocide and ethnic cleansing that began after the creation of Israel is known as the great catastrophe, or the "Nakba". Since the first Nakba, surviving Palestinians fled desperately toward Westbank and Gaza, and have been unable to move freely since, due to strict occupation control.
Gaza is over 2x smaller than Calgary with over 3x the population density. It only takes one hour to drive from North to South, and approximately 9 hours to walk. It is home to 2.3 million people who have been under an Israeli land, sea and air blockade since 2007. This would be equivalent to Canada being colonized by another country. Imagine the colonizer ethnically cleansing the Canadian population, forcing the populations of other provinces and cities into the city of Calgary. Imagine the colonizer taking over Canada for 75 years, and then restricting the movement of Calgarians as well as controlling your food, water, and electricity. As Canadians
NOTE: Canada was created through the land theft and colonization of Canadian indigenous peoples. It is important to remember that the ethnic cleansing and genocide of indigenous people of Canada has occurred and continues to occur. Canada being a colonizing force over Indigenous peoples, also stands in unequivocal support for Israel, as Israel continues its genocidal onslaught against Palestinian natives.
Gaza Before October 7th
Unprovoked?
Prior to October 7th nearly 80% of people lived in poverty, and two-thirds were reliant on humanitarian assistance in Gaza due to the Israeli occupation. Almost half the population, and +70% of young people, were unemployed.
Even though Gaza and the West Bank are considered part of Palestine, Israel controls both regions. Prior to October 7th, Israel would turn off electricity in Gaza, causing intermittent connectivity with 11- to 12-hour blackouts every day. Water and sanitation systems were inadequate, and Gazans were subject to constant Occupation imposed shortages of all basic necessities including water. Gaza has been held below the WHO recommended minimum for daily water consumption by the Israeli occupation.
Israel holds thousands of Palestinian hostages in Israeli prisons without charge or trial, and has held + 5000 hostages prior to October 7th. Majority are just children.
The occupational blockade on Gaza, has transformed into the world’s largest “concentration camp” according to Hebrew University sociologist Baruch Kimmberling in 2003. This was predating Hamas (a political party with a military wing) winning elections in the region, after which Israel only tightened its chokehold.
During Israel's 17 years of siege over Gaza city, their airport was bombed by the IDF, fully dysfunctional. Additionally Israel would routinely bomb the city, destroying homes and stealing lives. Israel has been guilty of also dropping chemical bombs such as white phosphorus on Gaza during it's siege.
Recognized under international law, refugees are allowed the right to return. In 2018, Palestinians peacefully protested their right to return to greater historic Palestine. Their peaceful protest ended with Israel's illegal use of violence, shooting and murdering countless unarmed Palestinians. Palestinians who were simply wishing to return home, and were killed.
As such, Palestinians have been barricaded into the over crowded Gaza strip, made into a concentration camp by Israel, with inhuman living conditions for over a decade. Life in Gaza for 17 years has been unbearable due to Israel's chokehold, and according to the UN, after October 7th Israel has transformed it into an apocalypse.
Sources: WHO. Amnesty International. Human Right’s watch
1 child
is killed every 10 minutes by the IDF in Gaza (UN)
+2 million
people have been displaced by Israel
(BBC, March 2024)
850 people
share a single (1) toilet in Rafah
(UNICEF, May 7, 2024)
+9 thousand
nine-hundred & sixty one women
have been killed in Gaza since oct 7, 2023
(CNN, May 14, 2024)
11 hospitals
remain in Gaza, but are dysfunctional. The remainder 25 hospitals are fully destroyed in Gaza due to Israel's assault on healthcare
(DemocracyNow! May 3, 2024)
12 Universities
have been destroyed by the IDF - these are all the Unis in Gaza. Israel has destroyed Gaza's Central Archives and Libraries
(Truthout, March 17 2024/Literary Hub, February 6 2024)
0 children
have been able to attend school since October 7th, 2023
(AP News, May 17 2024)
3 hundred
& fifty-five bullets
were shot at close range by IDF killing a 6-year-old Palestinian girl
(Middle East Eye, June 21, 2024)
+21 thousand children
are missing in Gaza. Many trapped between rubble, detained by Israel, buried in unmarked graves, or simply lost
(Save The Children, June 24, 2024)
2 hundred & Fifty
Palestinians killed per day
by Israel. The Death Rate in Gaza is Higher than any other major conflict of the 21st Century.
(Oxfam, January 2024)
85% of Gaza's population are refugees displaced from historic Palestine, and unable to move freely due to strict occupation control.
Israel has maintained the illegal militarized chokehold over Gaza for 17 years- making daily life difficult and at times next to impossible. Gaza, frequented with routine airstrikes from Israel, water shortages, power outages, and the restriction of basic necessities - for the first time in human history, the militarized fence was breached.
Amidst Israel’s siege of Gaza, Hamas’s military wing breached the blockade successfully despite many desperate and failed attempts by people in the past.
Flying in with glider jets, a fire exchange ensued between Hamas and IDF, leading to the tragic deaths of many innocent citizens.
Hamas also seized Israeli hostages - of which included citizens, and Occupation forces, in exchange for the thousands of Palestinian hostages held without charge or trial, in Israeli prisons prior to October 7th. Most of the Palestinian hostages held in Israel were just children.
Accounts of raped women and beheaded babies were debunked and confirmed as false by Western and Israeli media, including an investigation by the Israeli Newspaper Haaretz which verified the fabricated nature of the inflammatory claims.
On October 7th, the estimated number of Israeli deaths were readjusted and verified. Data was reconsidered, challenging the initial assumptions and figures.
According to the AFP, a leading global news agency, figures on Israeli deaths, emerged from social security data, with the conclusion as of now, the final death toll of Israeli citizens killed during the October 7th Hamas offensive, is 695. This is not distinguishing between the civilians killed by Hamas, or civilians killed by Israeli forces during the deadly fire exchange. This figure also omits the deaths of IDF and those active in combat - only considering Israeli civilians (Men, women and kids).
That is a tragic 695 innocent civilians killed in the crossfire between Hamas and Israeli Defense forces. In total, including IDF personal, and foreigners - the crossfire between Hamas and Israel killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel. Each lost life was a tragic and profound loss, as are all civilian lives.
Since October 7th, Israeli officials began declaring innocent Palestinian men, women and children "human animals", and continued the 76 years of dehumanizing rhetoric against Palestinians, in order to enact Israel's latest genocide against the native people of Palestine.
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Although Jaw dropping figures of dead civilians only skyrocketed as a result of Israel’s calculated deadly and catastrophic response.
Israel fully destroyed access to Gaza’s water supply, fuel and electricity, and restricted all humanitarian aid from entering. This is effectively thirsting and starving the entire 2 million+ innocent people living in the strip.
Since October 7, WHO estimates Israel has injured, displaced, and murdered approx. 100,000 people, including +11,000 children killed, and +5,300 women killed. According to Amnesty International, over +1,000 Palestinian people are trapped under the rubble in only 125 days.
As of now, the conservative estimate of Palestinians murdered by Israel in just 9 months by Israel is over 180,000.
Israel’s direct targeting of medical facilities, and humanitarian aid, as well as refugee camps, schools, universities and places of worship have lead to a global outcry of Israel’s violence against Palestinian people.
Since October 7th, Israel has dropped the equivalence of greater than four nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima, on Gaza; a population that’s crowded, impoverished, and displaced, in a region smaller than Calgary. This leading to the murder of hundreds of thousands of people directly, and maiming of millions more. The survivors are starved, and displaced.
Israel has been directly targeting civilian infrastructures and "safe zones" designated by the IDF themselves. As a result, women and children have become the greatest targets of Israeli violence. From bombing, to restricting women and children's access to hygiene, medical care, basic food and water, as well as systemic sexual violence against Palestinian women and children.
Israel's Violence Against Children
Ever since October 7th, Israel has relentlessly targeted schools, libraries, hospitals and refugee camps, causing children to face innumerable losses and unimaginable trauma, of which, we don't know what the long term effects will be.
For reference, an approximate 510 children were killed in nearly two years of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Over 10,000 children have been killed in Gaza in only 100 days due to Israel’s deadly bombardment, targeting of schools libraries, refugee camps, healthcare infrastructures, as well as the direct murdering of children and babies during Israeli ground operations.
In addition to direct murdering of Palestinian children, Israel has shot parents Infront of their children leaving many orphans traumatized. Faisal al Khaldi - a three year old Gazan baby recounts watching his 7-month pregnant mother shot in her stomach by an Israeli solder. He recounts that his mother and father were taken out to the corridor in front of him and shot before his little eyes.
As of February 2, 2024 -at least 17,000 Palestinian children who have been orphan or forcibly separated from their parents according to UNICEF. 4,000 embryos were destroyed along with Gaza's oldest and largest fertility clinic by Israel's targeted and relentless bombardment.
The death toll and the targeting of Palestinian children - including unborn children makes evident Israel's assaults on Gaza is not "Israel's war against Hamas" but rather this is a Genocide of innocent civilians in Gaza.
Israel's International Reputation
According to Human Rights Watch, Israel joins the UN "blacklist" for deliberate abuses against children. Reports have found that Israeli forces are responsible for 5,698 violations including "the killing and maiming of children and attacks on school and hospitals" - Human Rights Watch, including possible grave violations of 19,887 Palestinian children.
Israel's offensive against Palestinian education and educational facilities have resulted in the robbery of Palestinian children's fundamental right to receive education. Since October 7th, Palestinian children have been forced to attended funerals, and burry their loved ones instead of attending school. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor states "... academics and intellectuals are deeply concerned by the Israeli army's pervasive targeting of academics, educational institutions, and cultural heritage sites in the Gaza Strip".
Prior to October 7th, 2023 - Israel has detained thousands of children in Israeli prisons and detention centers, from both Gaza and the West Bank, and the number of children taken hostage in Israeli facilities have only multiplied exponentially. Israel continues to arbitrarily arrest and detain Palestinian children. According to Save The Children, Israel is the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts - a long standing human rights concern.
Hind Rajab - a 6 Year Old Little Palestinian Girl
Hind and her family were fleeing Gaza and their vehicle was shelled by Israel. Her family was killed in the car except her and a cousin who called for help noting they were under attack by an Israeli tank. The cousin was also killed, and Hind was left alone. She was stranded in the care with the corpses of her recently murdered family. Two paramedic teams attempted to rescue her and were killed by Israel. The little girl was then shot at 355 times by Israeli forces and her short life horrifically stolen.
Their bodies were found after the Israeli army withdrew. The Israeli army denied allegations of harming Hind and the rescue teams, in efforts to maintain Israel's image as an ethical and moral army. However the denial was refuted by investigations relying on satellite imagery and visual evidence which concluded that a number of Israeli tanks were indeed present and one had likely fired 355 rounds at the only surviving little girl.
Hind Rajab is a little girl, and just one in hundreds of thousands of stories of Palestinian girls and boys, men and women who have been horrifically terrorized, and barbarically murdered by the world's 4th most powerful army on the planet - Israeli Defense Forces.
To better understand Canada's support for Israel and Calgary's role in this violence, click here.
Israel's Bombing & Chemical Warfare: The tempo and scale of Israel's bombings have never been seen before in such a short time. Other wars take years, Gaza has been leveled in two months. - Van Sen Hoek, CBC.
Gaza's last "safe zone" - Rafah - has been transformed into an extermination camp by Israel.
Israel's violence against Gaza is environmental violence, assault against healthcare, and Israeli-Made famine.
What is Zionism? An ideology that was born out of protestant Christianity as late as 1897. Zionism is a very modern colonial ideology.
Women and children are Israel's main victims. An estimated 2 mothers are killed every hour by Israel - UN
Canada's Unequivocally Supports Genocide: Despite Israel's internationally recognized war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians, Canada stands with unequivocal support for Israel's.
