After Palestinian militants have said a cease-fire with Israel has been agreed, some words of context especially that next week will be the anniversary of the deadliest day of protests along Gaza's boundary fence with Israel, and as Palestinian Muslims begin the holy month of Ramadam.
The undertanding was brokered by Egypt and the United Nations, and includes measures to ease the acute economic criisis in the impoverished Gaza Strip, home to two million people.
Shortly before the cease-fire came into effect, Abdul Latiif Al-Kanno, a Hamas spokesman said, ref, " Any truce thar does not obligate the occupation to lift the seige on our people in Gaza will be fragile and collapse once again."
Since the protets broke out along the border on 30 March, at least 145 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. The majority of those killed were non -violent protstors, as well as journalits, bystatander an a nurse, no Israelis had been killed.
Let's not forget that Gaza is besieged by Israel by land, sea and air on a daily basis, it's inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are refugees, trapped in an area of land, just 60 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide, in what may see is an open air prison.
Due to fuel shortages,damaged anddestroyed infrastructure, thre are power shortages for up to 16 hours per dayr in most areas of Gaza. 70% of households in Gaza recive running watr fror only 6 to 8 hours once every two or four days. Over 90% of the war extracted from the Gaza aquifer is unsafe for human consumption. Nearly 90 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage is dumped into the sea of Gaza everyday. Due to the economic blockade, education, medical car, agricultural and fishing indutries are in a state of near collapse.
Gaza's wealth is largely unreachable , access to traditional fishing ground is restricted, while the movement of people into and out of Gaza is severely limited, as is the import and export of goods. this all amoints to collective punishment of it's people which is illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Palestinian rockets were symbolically fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday (4 May) in response to Israel air strikes, in response Israel carried out waves of retaliatory attacks on the Gaza Strp on Sunday, in a deadly escalation that seemed to show no signs of slowing and raised fears of war.
It has been reported that 25,Palestinians have been killed and many injured, includng the deaths of two pregnant woman and a baby, and four Israeli civilians. The deliberate targeting of civilans must be condemned as it undermines every moral, legal and human standards. The international community must continue to pressure Israel to end it's stiflling blockade that it has imposed on the residents of the Gaza Strip which is the root cause of this violence. Whilst Hamas is criticised for it's own actions and " Israel can tell both ttself and the world any story it wants, it can talk about escalation only when rockets fal on the south or about terrorsm only when its citzens pay the price. It can erase the brbaric blockade on Gaza, th endlss starvation of its population, the snipers who kill unarmed protestors, the shooting of fishermen, the lack of potable water, the electricity, the infrastructure, the economy and the unemployment.
Yet none of these will cease being part of the history in the making of occupation an violence. With all due respect, a narrative cannot replace reality, and in reality, Israel has been abusing two million beseiged Gazans for over a decade. What did we think would happen? That because the strong have the power to tell the story the weak would simply vanish?"
https://972mag.com/no-escalations-do-not-begin-with-rockets-on-israel/141302/?fbclid=IwAR2scvTm4od4T5c5U7ScdOCBLyJvBBDZKBwgDbKltaKveHVlJt2fhGJdupY
It is more than time for the illegal blockade and siege of the citizens of Gaza to come to an end, as a fragile casfire is reached, the Israeli occupation continues, and carries on inflicting misery on the Palestinian population.The Eurovision song contest takes place from 14-18th in Tel Aviv, Israel despite the whitewashing and the 'so called spirit of togetherness; the oppression of the Palestinians and the citizens of Gaza will go on, for that reason some would argue they have the right to resist, for their dignity and survival, their right to exist. . .
