For the
[now countless]
Dead of Gaza
"i thought my tears had all run dry.
i thought my weapons were now without fire.
i thought after so many dead and maimed
the killing might stop.
i went and dug a hole in the solitude
of an ailing spirit.
i went there and buried my head
in shame and grief and
the violence of my own colonised
heritage.
i went there to flee this age-old
murderous rage.
But the ghosts are never silent in this lost place..."
NOTE:
Hiba Kamal Abu Nada (24 June 1991 – 20 October 2023) "...was a Palestinian poet, novelist, nutritionist, women's rights activist and Wikimedian."
She was assassinated in her home in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli airstrike in the ongoing Gaza Genocide.
Her last poem - posted on October 8:
“Gaza’s night is dark
apart from the glow of rockets,
silent apart from the sound of the bombs,
terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer,
black apart from the light of the martyrs.
Good night, Gaza.”
- Since the collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza on the night between 17 and 18 March, intense military activities and hostilities have continued, killing and injuring hundreds of people and further damaging and destroying what remains of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.
- Over 180 children were reported killed on 18 March, marking “one of the largest single-day child death toll in the last year” according to UNICEF.
- On 19 March, two UN guesthouses were hit by an explosion in Deir al-Balah (Gaza middle areas), killing one UNOPS team member and injuring six more UN staff, some of whom sustained life-altering injuries.
- On 24 March, the UN Secretary-General “has taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organisation’s footprint in Gaza”. However, the UN is not leaving the Gaza Strip and "remains committed to continuing to provide aid that civilians depend on for their survival and protection.”
- Humanitarian aid and supplies have not entered the Gaza Strip since March 2, when the Israeli authorities imposed a siege. This siege has now lasted over three weeks, surpassing the duration of the total siege first imposed in October 2023 when the war started. As a result, critical humanitarian supplies, including food and medical aid, are rapidly depleting.
- In the West Bank, the Israeli Forces’ large-scale operation that started in Jenin camp and other areas in the north on 21 January 2025 is ongoing, making it by far the single longest Israeli Forces’ operation in the West Bank since the second intifada in the early 2000s and causing the largest population displacement since the 1967 war...