In the fire and rubble of what was an apartment building, two parents desperately search for their 4-year-old daughter. But they won’t find her until later; she is already dead in the rear of an ambulance. The daughter’s name was Nour, and on September 22nd, she was with her grandfather when a bomb was dropped on their apartment building. The Israeli military had ordered the building next to Nour to be evacuated because they claimed it was a Hamas facility. However, the building Nour was in was bombed with no warning. 11 people were killed in the bombing, including many other members of Nour’s family. Nour’s story, repeated thousands of times over, is a raw glimpse into the devastating scale of destruction and atrocities committed by the Israeli government.
The Palestinians living in Gaza have suffered more than people can imagine. As of October 10th, 2025, at least 67,211 people in Palestine have been killed. At least 169,961 more people have been injured. The Palestinians have been killed and injured by Israeli military action, including airstrikes and bombs. They are also being killed by disease and systematic starvation due to humanitarian blockades. In comparison, at least 1,139 Israeli people have been killed, and 8,730 more have been injured. Data from the United Nations Offices for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli attacks have damaged almost all homes in Gaza, 80% of commercial facilities (offices and retail stores), 80% of school buildings, 68% of road networks, and 68% of cropland. Healthcare facilities like hospitals are also targeted, and 50% of hospitals are only partially functional. Israel is also specifically targeting Palestinian journalists, with 217 of them dead. Two Israeli journalists and 3 Lebanese journalists have also been killed. The Israeli military, also known as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), maintains that it doesn’t intentionally target Palestinians and that it takes extensive precautions to avoid civilian harm. However, if the precautions are so extensive, then why have so many Palestinian citizens died or been injured? The IDF also claims that Hamas, a Palestinian militant movement, uses civilians as human shields by operating from residential buildings. This has not been proven true, however, and doesn’t excuse the mass killings of Palestinian people. The Israeli government has also broken international law. They have practically kidnapped people on ships that are bringing aid to the Palestinian people. These ships travel in international waters, and these waters are supposed to ensure freedom of navigation. However, time and time again, the Israeli government has specifically targeted these ships and violated international law. While President Trump has bragged about his role in brokering a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, the ceasefire has already been violated. Israel has killed nearly 100 Palestinians and injured 230 more since October 10th. A ceasefire will most likely not work because the only thing the Israeli government truly wants is the extinction of the Palestinian people. They want the entire area for themselves, and the government knows that Palestinians will always protect their land. There has been a prisoner exchange in which Hamas released all living hostages and agreed to hand over the remains of former captives. Israel has released nearly 2,000 imprisoned Palestinians. A majority of Palestinian prisoners released were being held without charges. It’s quite obvious that Israel is in the wrong based on their actions throughout the war. However, we cannot blame the Jewish or Palestinian people for what their governments are doing.
While many people think this began on October 7th, 2023, the day of the Hamas attacks on Israel, it actually began decades before. It actually began right after WW1, when Britain took control of the area known as Palestine following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, a declaration known as the Balfour Declaration was issued, a statement by the British Foreign Secretary which supported the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people”. This “national home” would be in Palestine. This angered Palestinians because the land had belonged to them, and now it was going to be given away without their consent. When anti-semitism or prejudice against Jewish people began to rise between the 1920s and 1940s, more Jewish people fled to this area. By 1947, there was a large amount of violence between Arabs and Jews, and the UN voted for Palestine to be split into separate Arab and Jewish states. Jerusalem would become a national city. There have also been wars fought over the territory. The 1948 Arab-Israeli war occurred 1 day after Israel declared independence. Israel was attacked and surrounded by the armies of 5 Arab nations. The fighting ended in 1949 with an armistice, and Israel controlled most of the territory. After Israel gained control, around 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes, on the land eventually became Israel. In the years after, hundreds of Jews abandoned or were removed from Muslim majority countries, and many went to Israel. The 1967 Middle East War, otherwise known as the Six-Day War, shifted boundaries in the Middle East. Israel fought Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israel first attacked Egypt’s air force because it feared an attack from Egypt and Syria. When the war was over, Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and almost all of the Golan Heights from Syria. Nearly one million Palestinians in these areas came under Israel’s control. This has been an ongoing issue since 1917.
After years of horrifying actions committed by the Israeli government, it’s evident that the Israeli regime won’t end the genocide in Palestine of its own will. Any country can legally intervene to stop the crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes committed by the Israeli government. However, countries that have tried to intervene, like Yemen, have been attacked by Israel’s allies. The U.S had attacked Yemen because it imposed a blockade on shipping that would resupply the Israeli regime. It’s appalling that our country is funding a genocide. Since October 7th, 2023, America has sent 16.3 billion dollars in direct military aid to Israel. Our country is one that’s supposed to represent freedom, so why is our government continuously obstructing the freedom of Palestinians by funding Israel? America has single-handedly caused the deaths of thousands of Palestinians by supplying Israel with military aid.
This is not a conflict or a war between two states over land. It is the genocide of people simply trying to live on a land that is theirs. We must stand up for the Palestinians who can’t.
