Swear By My Sword!

original image inspo! and thumbnails for my bad memory hehe

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I am writing this on March 17th, 2025.

Israel continues to violate ceasefire conditions in Gaza and in Lebanon. 

In today's headlines alone, it has been reported that an Israeli strike has killed 5 people in Gaza as reported by Reuters, and that "at least 4" strikes from the IDF have struck Eastern Lebanon as reported by The Times of Israel.

Yesterday, NPR reported that two Israeli airstrikes in the city of Beit Lahiya, Gaza, killed 9 people - including charity aid workers and journalists. Middle East Eye reports that yesterday, an airstrike in southern Lebanon killed 4 people.

As this continued aggression against civilians unfolds, Israel & the IDF presses on - emboldened by an international community guilty of indifference, manufacturing consent, and outright complicity - in its genocidal conduct.

Palestinians all the while continue to suffer and die as a direct result.

Last month (Febuary), Oxfam reported the following on the lack of water in Gaza:

Fifteen months of Israel’s military assault has destroyed 1,675 kilometres of water and sanitation networks. In the North Gaza and Rafah governorates, which have suffered the most destruction, less than 7% of pre-conflict water levels is available to people, heightening the spread of waterborne diseases. Just 5.7 litres per person, per day is available, barely enough for one toilet flush.

Eight days ago Israel once again cut Gaza's already fragile water supply. The implications of this are catastrophic for Palestinians.

"1.8 million people – over half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance."

Similarly to the water crisis, food is also scarce. Today, Middle East Monitor reports that 80% of Palestinians in Gaza lack regular access to food. This comes 15 days after the Israeli army haulted the entry of ALL humanitarian aid into the region. THIS IS ILLEGAL, and yet the IDF and Israel has received little pushback for its collective punishment of Palestinians (including from my own [insert choice words here] of a prime minister).

In the wake of the mass bombing campaign by the IDF, Palestinians are overwhelmingly without shelter - the sheer scale of destruction in Gaza is difficult to comprehend. NPR Reports:

A U.N. report issued in September estimates $18.5 billion worth of damage was done to Gaza's infrastructure from the war's start through the end of January 2024, and that once a ceasefire is reached, "a return to the 2007–2022 growth trend would imply that it would take Gaza 350 years just to restore GDP to its level in 2022."

The lack of shelter and blockage of tents from entering the region, in the midst of harsh winter storms, has proven challenging and deadly in Gaza.

As reported by Defense for Children International Palestine;

Ramallah, March 12, 2025 – A Palestinian infant has died and another remains in critical condition after suffering from hypothermia in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, after being forced to live in makeshift tents following repeated Israeli evacuation orders. [...] [...] “Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza, which has destroyed the health care system and the vast majority of homes, is responsible for the deaths of Palestinian children like Sham, whose families have no safe place to shelter,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “By refusing to hold Israel accountable, world leaders are complicit in the killing of Palestinian children.”

Lack of electricity, sanitation, and heating, combined with famine, has created a perfect storm for hypothermia, illness, and the outbreak of diseases.

I could spend days discussing the hardships of the Palestinian people as they currently live, but I will round off the document with this.

As data collection in the region has been made effectively impossible by The IDF and their historic killing of at least 170 journalists (& in some cases, their families), one could safely assume even higher death tolls than reported below, and that accurate statistics remain beyond reach. (*Notably, this has been the most deadly period for journalists in the history of The Committee to Protect Journalists. The targeted killing of them constitutes a war crime. There are even Wikipedia pages dedicated to this issue.)

★ More than 111'100 Palestinians have been injured, "with one quarter of those sustaining life-changing damage, mostly to their limbs".

★ It has been estimated that at LEAST 46'000 to 50'000 Palestinians have died under these genocidal conditions.

★ The death toll is almost certainly higher - perhaps as many as 62'000 - when accounting for missing people.

And this is an injustice beyond belief. But perhaps a fact more urgent, and a fact that we should celebrate, is that;

PALESTINE'S PEOPLE STILL LIVE, AND PERSEVERE, AGAINST ALL ODDS.

1.9 million, or 90% of Gaza's population is internally displaced. These people have a right to remain, and are looking to the world to have their voices heard so that the end goal of Netenyahu, Trump, and all others who have enabled the genocide against them, may never reach actualisation. They are not only resilient, but hospitable, kind, and deserving of human decency, and connection.

Palestinians deserve the right to self-determination.

Palestinians deserve to live free from the apartheid state of Israel.

Palestinians deserve life.

If you are dedicated to the cause, to seeing life flourish in Palestine, I implore you to stay informed, to stay energised, and to stay in community with your fellow activists. It is up to every last one of us to see that these people are not lost to an increasingly uncaring, increasingly fascist world stage, and its buckling media landscape.

"YOU CAN KEEP ME ON THIS EARTH. BE VIGILANT. I LOVE YOU."

Free Palestine - Candle (votive-candle)

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Recommended Donation Sites

★ GAZA FUNDS (click for a randomised, vetted fundraiser for Palestinians in need) ★ UNRWA ★ Doctors Without Borders ★ Gaza Emergency Fund ★ Medical Aid for Palestinians ★ Taawon (Palestinian Welfare Association) ★ ANERA (An organisation providing healthcare, education, water, and food in Gaza) ★ Gaza Online (providing ESims for Palestinians to stay connected) ★ Defense For Children International Palestine (an organisation focused on the safety of Palestinian children)

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS

UK Based Organisations...

★ Palestine Action (a group taking direct action to disrupt Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer) ★ The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (London) ★ Medical Aid For Palestinians (London) ★ Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (GGEC) ★ Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign ★ Wales Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Ireland Based Organisations...

★ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign ★ Sadaka (The Ireland Palestine Alliance) ★ Irish Aid Palestine

If you would like to recommend organisations from your country (I am based in the UK, hence the above list), feel free to add them in a reblog, reply, etc. as I would be happy to add them to this list. It is important right now to organise on a local level as well as online.