中文
By Doc Jazz
For almost four months now, the world has been watching Gaza being destroyed, starved and suffocated. The global upheaval, caused by the situation, is unprecedented. Isn't it remarkable that such a small place in the world, where nothing that happens could possibly disrupt the life of those outside it, has become the center of global political attention?
Effortlessly, Gaza news has nearly edged Ukraine news out of the spotlight.
It's definitely not the size of Gaza that has made it so important. One of the most densely populated area in the world, with 2.3 million inhabitants, Gaza measures only 365 Square kilometers.
What has really made Gaza the center of attention today, is that the global population is actually seeing its own humanity being trampled to pieces. The fact that this is being done by the dominating powers of "modern civilization," is confronting the world with its own lack of humaneness.
The world is truly undergoing an existential crisis of morality that not many will have seen coming. In order to assess how we got there, we must go back a few months and see what happened.
As soon as Israeli lawmakers scuttled to their podiums to express their outrage and their threats in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, their announcements already included the intentional creation of a humanitarian crisis.
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on October 9, in his infamous announcement in which he said that Palestinians are "human animals," said: "I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed."
This is exactly what was put into practice, and aside from the temporary ceasefire that was in effect from November 24 to November 30, when things were slightly better, aid has been dripping into Gaza only in tiny amounts.
It's not only by limiting the influx of resources and commodities, that Israel has in fact created a humanitarian crisis.
By destroying the infrastructure, destroying hospitals, attacking civil defense, and eliminating transportation vehicles, the occupying power continues to attempt to escalate the humanitarian crisis to its maximum level. According to the WHO, on January 24, there were only 15 hospitals still functioning out of a total of 36 in Gaza. In Northern Gaza, where the crisis is at its very worst, there were only 7 out of 24 that were still working.
As snipers continue to gun down civilians, and entire families still get buried under the rubble of their bombarded homes on a daily basis, the chance to survive a sustained injury is decreasing day by day. If you are stuck under the rubble, the equipment to get you out is no longer available. Most ambulances have been destroyed, and if one is lucky enough to get dug out and carried away by bystanders or by the remaining civil defense employees, the fastest way to make it to a hospital is by horse and carriage.
Even if you do make it to a hospital, the best care you will be able to get will barely go beyond that of a first aid station, in some ways not even on that level. What standard of acute medical care can one provide to the injured in the absence of analgesics, let alone anesthetics? The heart-rending story of the surgeon who had to amputate the leg of his own daughter without any anesthesia, will never be forgotten.
Never before has the world witnessed such intentional cruelty, with such a deep disdain for human values and human life, in real-time on the screens of its mobile phones and other media devices.
To intentionally starve an imprisoned population with nowhere to run, and then subject them to a steady rain of deadly bombardments from the sky, is not an approach that has commonly been followed in modern times.
Although the daily number of dead has indeed broken records, especially that of murdered children, it's not the numerical death count that has put the world in a state of shock with regard to Gaza.
It is the combination of ruthlessness, shameless expressions of ethnic supremacy (referring to Palestinians as "subhumans" and animals), the snubbing of all international conventions as they bombed and totally destroyed hospitals, and the incomprehensibly common expressions of joy at the killing of civilians, that has been sending shivers down the spine of the average world citizen.
As world citizens watch their politicians slip into an opportunistic apathy, their fear only increases more. Is this what governments are allowed to do nowadays? The "civilized" West, the champion of freedom, democracy, and human rights, is not only failing to denounce and halt this, but is actually financing and supporting this massacre?
The United Nations' top court on January 26 ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza and the ruling filed by South Africa will keep Israel under the legal lens for years to come. Although Israel expressed strong anger and objection, the broad international communities have shown their welcome and support to the ruling, including Gaza, South Africa and even the EU, which indicated that the justice remain existing.
Doc Jazz, a special commentator for CGTN, is a Palestinian surgeon, musician, and writer. Educated in the Netherlands, he is currently living and practicing his profession in the Middle East.
