Mass graves, unclaimed bodies and overcrowded cemeteries. The war robs Gaza of funeral rites
apnews.com
Palestinians say this war is robbing them not only of their loved ones but also of the funeral rites that long have offered mourners some dignity and closure in the midst of unbearable grief. Israeli strikes have killed so many people so quickly that they’ve overwhelmed hospitals and morgues, making the normal rituals of death all but impossible.
Overflowing morgues have compelled hospitals to bury people before their relatives can claim them. Gravediggers have laid dozens of unidentified bodies side by side in two large backhoe-dug furrows in Gaza City now holding 63 and 46 bodies, respectively, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the general director of Shifa Hospital.
I'm fifty, American and have always had a problem with our unconditional support of Israel, no matter how poorly they behaved. The only silver lining of this entire catastrophy is the fact that, despite all efforts to the contrary, the Gaza narrative has been mainly focused on the suffering of the Palestinian people. It's the first time that I can remember where this has been the main media focus; even mainstream outlets.
And that's despite all the efforts to paint Israel as an innocent ally.
I used to think that it was only in Apartheid-South Africa that we were exposed to only the most flowery pro-Israeli propaganda while the PLO was smeared as a demonic and terrorist "other" in much the same way Hamas is being smeared right now - I thought wrong.
The fact that the National Party (of Apartheid-fame) were filled to the brim with people who believed the Nazis "did nothing wrong" really puts this bizarre right-wing and white supremacist fetishization of Israel in a proper context.
This isnt a war,this is genocide.
The ever growing population in Gaza says otherwise.
"Their population is still increasing, therefore our systematic relocation and killing of the population isn't genocide."
What you should have said was nothing.
You are saying this underneath an article about nearly 8,000 people being killed in a 3 week span in an area that is nearly 50% children.
Question whatever it was that resulted in you thinking this was a normal thing to say.
A single stray rocket from within Gaza killed 500 people. Israel has dropped over 10,000 bombs so far. If Israel was trying to commit genocide or intentionally hit civilians the numbers would be astronomical with regards to death toll. It is, of course, terrible that there is 7000+ dead, but a word like genocide has a specific meaning, and to use it in this context takes weight away from the word and therefore marginalizes the term being used for ACTUAL genocides.
Oh, well if some random schmuck on the internet says it isn’t genocide I guess we should ignore the UN human rights expert.
The literal Holocaust scholars warning of genocide probably don’t know what they’re talking about either.
Go home everyone, it’s fine for Israel to blast open as many children as they deem necessary.
Albanese at the UN, who is quoted in your article has a long and documented history of bias against Israel, not to mention the UN itself, which has condemned Israel more than any other nation, even while 300,000 people were being slaughtered in Soudan and Al Assad killed 550,000 of his own citizens (100,000+ were women and children) using chemical weapons - the UN still fixated on the Arab Israeli conflict, which while tragic, has killed at max, an estimated 100,000 over the last 75 years. It is actually one of the least bloody conflicts in modern history. Not that dead civilians is ever a good thing, but if I were to focus all my time and attention on a conflict due to human rights violations or the number of dead babies, there are at least a half a dozen conflicts to focus on before you come to Israel/Palestine.
All I heard was you rapidly scrolling past the literal Holocaust scholars warning about genocide.
I wasn’t going to give that uncredible source and those cherry-picked “holocaust scholars” any credence.
Translation: they keep opposing our war crimes and apartheid making us look bad boohoo
The only thing this proves is that Albanese has a functional backbone - unlike you.
Oh, are the white supremacists still clinging to this debunked bullcrap? Do what all right-wingers do, Clyde... run for the next big lie.
Has it ever hit you that this is the number Israel has been able to get away with? How many more do they need to kill to turn the world against them? Hopefully not many. Look around, so many countries and experts have called it a genocide. Let's wait for you, regular jackoff on the internet, to tell us what's what lol
You're not funky at all and certainly not butter.
You're so disgusting in your way of thinking. I made a special tag for you.
Also, this is what they mean when they say every few years we have to mow the lawn: literally killing Palestinians, because their fragile bodies are threatened by merely the existence of other people.
Your ancestors that survived the Holocaust are rolling in their graves right now. Shame on you for becoming what you hated.
You do know that there is thousands of innocent people dead,thousands.So in any right minded human being thats genocide
My entire living family isn’t even 25 people…to lose that many and more would be beyond comprehension. It’s horrific, irrespective of whatever politics you might support. Dead kids with numbers on their arms … nightmare.
Reminds me of the Holocaust and their numbers. This world has gone crazy.
Even in death there is no peace or dignity for Palestinians, it is absolutely tragic.
When your government refuses to negotiate for viable peace then ramps up hostilities by invading and murdering hundreds of innocent civilians
"Why can't we have peace?"
Guess it's a mystery.
Right. That’s the problem. Not a 75 year occupation, genocide and apartheid. Sure.
You can't really say it's "their government" when the Palestinians in Gaza haven't had free and fair elections in years. Hamas has fucked the civilians in both Israel and Gaza. Civilians of either country who don't support the aggressive actions of "their side" (countinued settlement, terrorism) shouldn't be suffering as a result.
Many people live under governments that are not democracies, those are still their governments. Last time Gaza did have free elections, they elected Hamas.
They sure have.
And yet that's predictably what always happens in war. I'm sure that there were many innocent civilians who opposed Nazi policies in Germany, yet still shared consequences of the regime that they lived under.
What year did that happen, again?
And the average Gaza citizen is how old, you say?
Exactly how long does it have to be since a fair election has taken place for you to say that holding children accountable for their parents’ vote is unconscionable?
I love that now when it's against Palestinian everyone is saying "is it right to blame the child for their parents' aggression?"
While for years that very same argument wasn't heard for Israelis when Palestinians yelled "from the river to the sea" and did an Intifada... Back then the left was focusing on "give them back the 48 land!"
Makes you wonder huh.
Wow yeah the population of Gaza that is nearly 50% children sounds extremely responsible for that.
Is Israel responsible for the demography of Gaza? Should these children be considered an effective shield for Hamas, behind which they can launch attacks on civilians with impunity?
It seems to me the ones most responsible for putting children at risk are the parents who decided to have lots of them while penned in in a war zone run by belligerent terrorists, but I suspect you don't want to hear that. You seem pretty committed to blaming Israel for the miserable situation Gazans have created for themselves, the inevitable and predictable result of repeatedly choosing violence every time despite this conflict being unwinnable militarily.
You didn't read a word I typed? Again, blaming the children for that situation is just as effective as blaming Israelis for existing in their own state, on which they were born and raised. (Something that all Palestinian leaders are blaming every Israeli for, and are teaching their people to hate those same children who were just born there).
And those same people, who were born and raised in their own country, didn't do anything to get the wrath of Hamas, yet here we are.
Honestly if killing Palestinian civilians and medical staff and journalists is justifying because of the Hamas attack, doesn't that also mean the Hamas aerracks are justified against cilivlians because of Israel's long list of apartheid and war crimes?
The answer is no to both. Nothing justifies this.
This false equivalency only makes sense if you ignore the difference between intentionally targeting civilians and collateral damage.
The former is what Israel does, according to every human rights group and country expept for Israel and a few of its allleies that happen to have genocide of a native nation as part of their history.
Call Israel out on its genocidal bullshit.
Every human rights group says Israel intentionally targets civilians? You don't think even one exists that disagrees or takes no position on the matter? Absurd.
As for countries that support Israel:
All of them have genocide of a native nation as a part of their history, (and the nations that oppose Israel don't?) Please. Your obvious bias is showing.
The party explicitly advocating for genocide in this conflict is Hamas, not Israel. Self-defense is not genocide.
Every human rights org that matters, and that Israel hates because they call out their crimes. A lot of them run by Jewish pro-Palestinians and anti-Zionists.
Pointing to Hamas (whom everyone already condemned) is a really cheap way to avert people's attention from the thousands of dead bodies in Gaza.
Read that list of countries again. US, UK, Australia, France, certainly no one there invaded a native nation or occupied a county that wasn't theirs lol
Yeah! Just like the Warsaw Uprising of 1943 was a complete mystery! Why wouldn't those ungrateful Jewish people just accept the wondrous peace the Nazis was offering them, eh? It's a travesty, I tell you!
(/s - for the people on here that arent rabid white supremacists like the one I'm responding to)
that's awful - being unable to get closure
Yes. In no way am I comparing my situation to what the Palestinians are going through, but I was unable to visit my brother's memorial service or grave, and it messed with my head for 5 years. I cannot imagine what it's like knowing your loved ones are dumped somewhere in a mass grave you can never find.
Yeah my dad passed just when COVID was at its worst, and we just didn't feel comfortable having a service, and i still sometimes feel guilty about it. And I'm not religious at all anymore, and even my family's religious background it's not like there's anything special that must be done. I can't imagine how shitty it feels when you do have specific beliefs and practices that you're really supposed to observe. On top of them just being tossed in a pit somewhere with so many others.
My condolences. I'm an atheist myself, and yet I needed that closure. My heart goes out to everyone hurting right now.
yeah, assuming there's enough left to get buried at all. my condolences for your situation
Exactly. It's horrifying to think about. And thank you.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
(tldr: 5 sentences skipped)
Days later Dirawi was unloading their bodies from the back of a truck, digging a narrow trench partitioned with cinder blocks and reciting abbreviated funeral prayers before nightfall, when Israeli warplanes screeched and everyone ran indoors.
(tldr: 11 sentences skipped)
An estimated 1,700 people remain trapped beneath the rubble as Israel’s air raids impede and imperil civil defense workers, one of whom was killed during a rescue mission Friday.
(tldr: 6 sentences skipped)
That’s how survivors interred Bilal al-Hour, a professor at Gaza’s Al Aqsa University, and 25 of his family members killed Friday in airstrikes that razed their four-story home in Deir al-Balah.
(tldr: 10 sentences skipped)
“We often find this during our work, even just (Thursday) night in Gaza City when 200 people were killed, there were names and ID numbers written in ink on the children’s bodies,” said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson of the Palestinian Civil Defense.
(tldr: 2 sentences skipped)
In the crowded Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday, a fierce barrage of Israeli airstrikes leveled an entire block — some 20 multi-story buildings — killing 150 people and trapping more beneath the ruins, residents said.
(tldr: 4 sentences skipped)
Residents of Nuseirat peered into dozens of blood-smeared body bags arranged outside Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital on Thursday, searching for familiar faces, Abdou said.
(tldr: 10 sentences skipped)
The original article contains 1,046 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Cowardly Hamas terrorists need to stop intentionally placing Gazan civilians in harms way and using them as shields
You do know that Israel has established a total blockade. Meaning no one can leave
Egypt is a free country that could let in as many as they wanted. But Egypt says “no” citing security concerns. Of course, make the security concerns Israel’s problem and chastise them when they are forced to deal with it.
Free? Since when exactly?
In this context, it's clear they meant free as in sovereign and able to make their own decisions and policies regarding their border, not anything to do with their government structure or civil rights of Egyptians.
So you mean the border crossing that Israel regularly bombs?
They're totally free to move humanitarian aid under air strikes.
Regularly? There was a strike was against an underground tunnel in the Rafah area but your point still stands as the gate was closed due to this for a while. An aid shipment just arrived through there last week, and Israel has agreed to let more through.
If Israel doesn't have any control of the Rafah border crossing, why is there a news article saying they agreed to let more trucks through the Rafah crossing.....
And, that’s not what post was about.