| Good Shepherd Collective Newsletter |
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A critical update
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| A Gazan father holds his daughter, murdered by Israeli colonial forces, as he carries her out of the rubble of a building. October 9, 2023.
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A Genocide
Some basic facts
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I’m writing to you on the seventh day of the Al Aqsa Flood, the Gaza uprising. At this moment, the Palestinian Ministry of Health is reporting that Israeli forces have murdered 1,799 Gazans and injured 7,388 more. 583 of the martyrs are children. Furthermore, Israeli airstrikes have internally displaced 340,000 Gazans. The Civil Service in Gaza reported this morning that 90% of the bombings enacted by Israeli forces have targeted inhabited homes, many without any warning at all. Other targets of Israeli airstrikes have included shelters, schools, hospitals, medical aid workers, and journalists. For days now, Gazans have been denied access to their own resources in the midst of a genocidal siege imposed by Israeli politicians: they have had no access to electricity, and there is no food, water, or aid entering the besieged Gaza Strip.
For days, we have watched the news with horror. I have found myself, many times now, desperately trying to translate and describe the scenes unfolding on my screen only to be left thinking, “This is beyond words.” Today alone, Israeli forces targeted and bombed a convoy of Gazans traveling on an allegedly “safe” path from the north of Gaza to the south, per directives by Israeli forces themselves, killing approximately 70 people and injuring another 200. This command, which called on more than 1.1 million Palestinians to leave their communities and homes despite bombed roads and a denial of access to fuel for cars, provoked mass panic and confusion. How do you decide whether or not to leave your home after days of deadly terror from the sky which you can neither predict nor escape? How do you decide whether or not to trust a military that exists for the purpose and as a result of the displacement and brutalization of your people?
Around the same time, colonial forces fired white phosphorus into eastern Gaza’s al Durrah Children’s Hospital, forcing it to be evacuated. Just two days ago, Israeli forces targeted medical workers providing emergency aid to Palestinians targeted by airstrikes, giving them permission to enter an area before striking it again with them inside. As Israeli authorities continue to make statements about the lack of “civilians” in Gaza, their desire to wipe Gazans out, and efforts to cut Gaza off from the rest of the world, we watch leaders in the imperial West continue to nod their heads and sign off on genocide.
It is important to let you know that these horrific crimes against the Gazan people are not the only news. Palestinian resistance forces taking part in Al Aqsa Flood continue, both in the north and south, and Israeli forces have not been able to regain control over many areas, including Sderot and Asqalan (Ashkelon). Despite Israeli colonial violence from the state and its settlers carrying out assassinations in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel for arrest, Palestinians rose in solidarity with Gaza today in cities all over Palestine — from Jenin to Tulkarem to Hebron. Jordanians drove from Amman to amass at the border, leaving their cars behind, crossing closed roads, and confronting state forces to stand with Gaza and the uprising. In Iraq huge crowds declared their support for Palestinians and Gazans resisting colonialism. Even in Gaza, young men took to the streets in the evening, rejecting fear and Israeli attempts to incite panic, and declaring their intention to stay in Gaza and their support for Al Aqsa Flood. These messages of courage and strength at a time when so many of us feel so much hopelessness and desperation, and we must follow their lead in pursuing liberation, and above all, justice.
Just as this didn’t begin on October 7, this is not over, not by a long shot. Gazans need a ceasefire, but equally importantly, they need the status quo to change. They need an end to the 16 year long Israel-imposed siege that has kept them trapped without access to their own resources or the ability to determine their futures. Over the days, we have seen increasing efforts to demonize, silence, and murder Palestinian Gazans. As a result of these efforts, day by day, live content from Gaza has dwindled before our eyes.
Our friends and allies cannot lose hope. As we are less able to access our partners in Gaza, we must step up our efforts to speak about them publicly and loudly — reaching out to our elected officials repeatedly, organizing public demonstrations, correcting misinformation online and continuing to post accurate updates when we have access to them. GSC released a guide on propaganda corrections the other day, and we will continue to work on this effort over the coming days.
We need your support now across all of Palestine today, perhaps more than we have in a long time. This is an emergency, and we need all hands on deck.
Until liberation and return,
Lara Kilani
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Lara Kilani
Good Shepherd Collective
Communications
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