As ceasefire negotiations continue, Palestinians are angry with the international community, feeling it has failed them.
gaza city – After six months of war in the Gaza Strip, anger erupts over the international community's response to allowing the war to continue as Palestinians grapple with Israeli bombing, starvation and the risk of emotional trauma on both sides. are doing.
There remains hope, however small, that a ceasefire will materialize, but anger is stronger.
Alia Kassab, 22, says she has an unwavering belief that the international community will continue to fail the people of Gaza over and over again, just as it has for the past six months.
The United States, Germany, and many of the West's self-proclaimed human rights defenders have maintained support for Israel despite mounting evidence that Israel has committed widespread war crimes.
Since October, the United States has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire, and last month abstained to allow one to pass. Germany continues to supply arms to Israel, as do Britain, France and others.
Hope and despair become one
Any rumors from Cairo, where negotiators are mediating between Hamas and Israel, could fuel the hopes of a population desperate for a moment of respite and relative safety.
Ahmed Abu Shaara, a former middle school math teacher, is desperate for a break from the fighting.
“We are so exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally that we forget what life was like before,” said the 64-year-old Gaza City resident.
Bashir al-Faran stopped caring. He lost his wife and three children early in the war, and even the armistice does not restore his old life. “It doesn't matter anymore,” he said, adding that a ceasefire would only mean living with the horrors of the destruction inflicted on Gaza for many more years.
The 34-year-old banker, now living in a tent, says he remains grateful for the opportunity to grieve quietly.
“I think politicians and governments around the world, including the United Nations, are just trying to cover up their complicity in atrocities,” al-Faran said.
“Even the US and UK, supposed defenders of human rights, are responsible for the bloodshed by not stopping this conflict.”
Weapons of all kinds, including starvation
As talks in Cairo continue, Israeli shelling of Gaza continues and aid is blocked, further endangering Gaza's most vulnerable people.
Abed Abu Kenji, a physician at Al-Shifa Hospital, said: “Several months ago, medical authorities warned that Gaza would face catastrophic consequences if the blockade continued and the war continued.'' Ta.
“But unfortunately, all we got from the international community was lip service,” he added.
With 27 people, 23 of them children, starving to death, many families in Gaza are now familiar with malnutrition.
Food, fuel, and medical supplies are impossible to find or obtain.
“Children… are dying from severe malnutrition,” Kenji said.
“Furthermore, kidney failure due to respiratory diseases and infections is becoming more prevalent among young people. I am.”
Stories of betrayal and how the West watched people die are everywhere.
“I don't know what it takes for the outside world to see us as human beings,” said Soad Safi, 19. “Human beings are given a chance to make their dreams come true. If after five months of suffering and death it's not time to end this madness, when will it be?”
“I'm devastated by the loss, but I'm going to come out of it even better than before. … I've always done that,” Safi said, adding that she plans to continue her education after the war. Ta.
“They can hurt us. They can damage us. But they cannot destroy us. ”