You may have father, mother, aunt, uncle, son, daughter, friend, or a neighbor. All of us have some social connections. If any of your social connections especially those who are dear to you suddenly die, it can cause grief which takes time. People in Gaza get bombed or shelled, and worse if some of them have seen the body parts of their own beloved ones shattered into lifeless remains. This is the sad reality of the people dying in Gaza due to Israel attacks. There is no reasoning for a "just war". The reasoning that remains is to be human. There are casualties no matter what side you look at this Israel-Gaza. With more than 30K children who died out of more than 61K death, and more than 130K injured. these people have dignity, have families and are human beings like us. They have left their families, friends and relatives, etc. who are now grieving since the start of this war from October 7, 2023. Humanitarian pauses are making the lives of the people worse even with the air drops of aid which also killed some people.
The support that Israel received from US military aid is enormous amounting to US$17.9B while $12B has been approved under the current administration with $4B released immediately in early part of the current administration. Increasing number of people and countries are not supporting Netanyahu's war with the bombs, blockade of aids, and destruction of infrastructure. Countries and poeple in different parts of the world are showing their support of Gazans through protests, advocacies, and attempt to seige Gaza. On the other hand, the US government continued to provide the aid to Israel government. There is a growing movements across the country about the dissent to the government's decision to send the military aid that amounted to multi-billion support to killing of Palestinian people with complicitly not advocating for diplomatic means more than ever. This war is in revenge for the Israelis hostages where there are about 20 still in captivity. There is no comparison to the value that must be placed on anyone's life. But there have been more than 61K Gazans who already died along with the unlivable city that Gaza is right now. There are 20 hostages still in Hamas captivity while there are 2 Million Gazans who are starving to their death and hundreds of thousands of people died from futile life of struggle to exist with some people including children who are in permanent malnutrition. None of these are humane. The government leaders need to learn how to negotiate without impacting the civilian population and not involving other nation's resources to kill their neighbors. The vulnerable recipients of this war are the innonent civilians in Gaza. The government is punishing its own people creating a trauma that will last for generations and punishing what they perceived as enemy as a bait for their own unresolved issues over the centuries.
As a human being, we have the obligations to take the position of love and mercy. No one would want their father, mother, spouse, children, or friends to die, and more so in this war. This is a complete disregard for human life in Gaza. The tax payers are co-responsible in this war as our military resources are being used to continue this war. Not to mention the issues on the production of the military weapons used in war is evil in itself as it is used to kill thousands of people. Instead of our resourcse going to life-giving programs, the budget that has become law in this adminisration funds multi-billion dollars for the military modernization of artillery, infrastructure including $2B nuclear weapons improvement and production. This budget only encourages nations to kill each other, normally, the
“We Palestinians deserve to live and to have self-determination like everyone else. Not to be genocided and exterminated. Finally peace is the way and no peace globally or regioionally can happen without justice for the 15 million Palestinians (most of them now refugees)” - Professor M.Qumsiyeh
Call Congress: Let Aid In, Stop Forced Famine
— US CAMPAIGN FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS ACTION
Humanitarian Campaign for Palestinians in Gaza
The killing of Gazans whether through weapons or starvation is evidently not going stop. The Israel government has received opposition from global leaders as well as urging of United Nations to let the humanitarian aid flow with a call to permanent ceasefile. The urging of Israel towards diplomatic and peaceful solutions is still the hope for some while the Gazans are still at risk from the airstrikes and missiles against the innocent Gazans. In order to help ease out the killing of the people, there are legislators heed the call to action to introduce the "Block the Bomb to Israel." This is an invitation to us to make this happen by calling our legislators to support this bill.
With the same motivation, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is sharing its open letter for the UN Security Council to have an unconditional release of hostages, to end the Gaza military operations and end the blockage of humanitarian aids. The destruction of humanity, is a symbol of destruction of nature and the destruction of the soul. This only shows our world's spiritual desert which is what is happening in the individual level. We have come to the point that when we do not care for creation, we do not respect and value the dignity of people around us. When we do not dismiss our brothers and sisters, we will understand to be inclusive including our brothers and sisters who have different position from where we are. In the current situation, Israel does not want to share anything including humanity while the land is only a symbol of what deeper hunger is. The genocide of the Palestinian people is a symbol of genocide of our human values. “The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast”. For this reason, the ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion. It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an “ecological conversion”, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. (Laudato Si’ 217)
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