People in Palestine have to endure a new hell every day and have faced life-threatening conditions in Gaza and even in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since October 7. That includes journalists, medics, and first responders, who are civilian heroes on the front lines and who face such danger every day.
Here are some examples:
Two days ago, on December 26, five journalists were murdered, and their bodies were burned after the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) targeted their broadcast vehicle near Al-Awda Hospital in Al-Nuseirat Camp, Central Gaza.
The martyred journalists were:
* Journalist: Ayman al Gedi
* Reporter: Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan
* Editor: Fadi Hassouna
* Coordinator: Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali
* Editor: Mohammed Al-Ladaa
The IDF's reason for murdering them is that they were broadcasting "enemy propaganda." This is a cowardly and barbaric act! If that is not terrorism, I do not know what is. This raises the number of journalists killed by the IDF to since the beginning of the war to over 200 since October 7.. I should note here that the wife of Ayman al Gedi gave birth to their firstborn child as an orphan. It would be devastating for this orphaned child to remember his dad was martyred on his birthday and before he could see him. Not one single call of condemnation or protest by any of the cowardly Western media or officials.
Support for Palestine from people in the US and the EU is a morale booster
* Ione Belarra is Spanish Minister who is a leading EU advocate of Palestinian rights. She threatened to withhold its crucial support for next year's budget unless the government break diplomatic relations with Israel. She said recently "Israel cruelly murders journalists because it does not want witnesses to its crimes against humanity."
* It is heartwarming to see Apartheid Israel has closed its embassy in Ireland. The whole world celebrated when the people of Ireland raised the Palestinian flag over the former Israeli embassy and turned it into a Palestinian museum. Hey, it is time to give Ireland back to the Irish and make Israel Palestine again!
Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has deliberately targeted Palestinian journalists. Starting with Wael Dahdouh's family, Ismail el-Ghoul, and the family of Motasem Dalloul whose house was targeted by the IDF air attack after he went to get some food for his starving family in Gaza City. When he came back, his pregnant wife Rahim and their 3-year-old son Abu Bakir were dead and his 6-year-old son Assim was badly injured. Prior to that, Dalloul's business was bombed by the IDF. I met Dalloul who is UK-educated online during the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza.
Young journalist Doaa J Rouqa from Gaza City has another heart-wrenching story. She has not seen her family for the last 444 days except via Facetime. She now lives and reports from Southern Gaza where she lives less than 15 miles from her family. This young lady is fearless and has a heart like a lioness.
On December 4, the IDF bombed the home of well-known journalist Anas Al-Sharif in Jabalia who works for Al Jazeera TV. He was not home but his father was. Anas' father was martyred while performing his afternoon prayers and their home was gone.
Today, 28 December, Palestinian journalist Shatha Sabbah was shot dead amid ongoing attacks by Moshe Abbas (PA)'s Gestapo-style security forces against freedom fighters in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Middle East Eye reported that several Palestinian news outlets have said that a sniper with the PA's security forces killed Sabbah. The PA denied responsibility but it denounced Shatha's murder. Shaza was the sister of martyr Motasem Sabbah.
On 5 December 2024, Moshe Abbas's security forces began a large-scale operation into the West Bank city of Jenin against the Jenin Brigades, a local Palestinian militia. The PA has called it "Operation Protect the Homeland" and said it was launched in order to eradicate "pro-Iranian criminal thugs" in the West Bank. Abbas' Gestapo-style forces act as subservient to the Israeli occupation and are known among Palestinians as "the occupation's guard dogs." All I can say, Spread Moshe Abbas's shame!
Palestinian hostages held by the IOF
Prior to 10/7, the number of Palestinians held hostage by the IDF was 5,200, many of whom held without charges or trial dates for years. Throughout the war, the number of Palestinian hostages has nearly tripled according to Dr. Mostafa Barghouti. They are being held in 13 concentration camps throughout Israel.
Gaza detainees at a notorious camp report being handcuffed while sleeping, eating, and using the bathroom. (The Ugly Truth, Dec. 25, 2024), Middle East Eye.
Israeli authorities are accused of torturing Palestinians at the Ofer detention camp, which was established during the ongoing war to hold detainees from Gaza, a new report has revealed. The camp, a military-administered facility, is located next to a prison with the same name between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
According to 19 testimonies given to +972 and local call, the site has witnessed torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. Rami, a former Palestinian detainee at Ofer, described the facility as brutal and inhumane.
"I was severely tortured," Rami said. "We were forced to kneel with our hands tied from sunrise until midnight. Guards beat us on every part of our bodies. I was given electric shocks every two days." He added, "The torture was carried out against all inmates without exceptions," he added.
"All detainees at Ofer were tortured, beaten and humiliated. We received food only once a day."
Those held at the camp are classified as "unlawful combatants" and do not enjoy due process. They are charged with supporting terrorism and are held indefinitely, reported the Ugly Truth news site.
As Christians around the world celebrated the birthday of their favorite Palestinian,
Israeli occupation forces have forcibly displaced Christian couple Abu Asaad and his wife from their home!
They are celebrating Christmas in their tent in the Al Mawasi area! Al Mawasi tweeted my friend Motasem Dalloul from Gaza. It is a makeshift tent camp where thousands of Palestinians live in squalid conditions. When asked about it by a journalist, the IOF spokesman denied there are Christians or churches in Gaza, which I find repulsive and infuriating.
As of today, Mondoweiss has reported that Israel has killed 17,400 children in Gaza.
With no clean water, sanitation, medicine, or food, children are hit the most in Gaza. On 25 December, The Ugly Truth reported about the story of three-week-old infant Sila Mahmoud Al-Faseeh, who died of hypothermia in the morgue of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Three more children were reported frozen to death in Rafah.
As if that is not enough, tents of internally displaced Palestinians (also known as "IDPs") were torn apart by strong wind and got completely submerged in winter rains, leaving 1000s of families and children stranded in the streets. My friend Rania @umyazenmo captured that horrific event by tweeting, "Because being displaced & in tents isn't bad enough, thousands of tents on the shore have been washed off by the tide!" No food, no heat, only the constant humming of drones and nerve-wracking wait to see where the next bomb will be dropped.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelancer for Islamicity.com and Columbu
"Reach out for those who ignored you, give to the one who deprived, and forgive those who oppressed you." ~ Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him)
Motasem Sabbah was murder by the IOF in 2024 and his sister journalist Shatha Sabbagh was murdered last night by PA Security Forces in Jenin
The infant Sila Mahmoud Al-Faseeh, passed away due bitter cold weather inside her tent in Mawasi Khan Younis. Her body was completely stiff from the cold when her father found her. Photo credit: Gaza Notification Twitter account