GAZA, (PIC)
On Sunday evening, a global joint media campaign titled “Stop the Genocide” is scheduled to be launched, with the participation of hundreds of media and human rights organizations around the world, in addition to activists across social media platforms.
The campaign aims to shed light on the grave violations committed against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, which have been documented by international organizations as a systematic genocide perpetrated by Israel since the beginning of its war on October 7, 2023.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, approximately 51,000 people have been killed and over 116,000 others injured—including more than 17,000 children—with over 6,500 cases of amputation, in what is considered an unprecedented assault in terms of intensity and scale, targeting civilians, hospitals, schools, displacement camps, and places of worship.
Numerous UN reports, including those from the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry, have indicated that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip may constitute genocide under international law, in addition to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Children are at the forefront of the victims—not only in the staggering death toll, but also through horrifying scenes and images of children who have lost limbs, suffered permanent disfigurement, or survived under rubble only to find themselves orphaned and homeless.
Reports from organizations like “Save the Children” confirm that children in the Gaza Strip are facing severe psychological and behavioral crises, along with intense physical suffering from critical injuries left untreated due to the collapse of the healthcare system.
Starvation and thirst as weapons of war
Israel has imposed a suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip for years and, since the war began, has shut down all vital crossings and prevented the entry of food and medical aid. This has led to a near-famine situation, especially after the collapse of the ceasefire agreement in early March, posing a direct threat to the lives of hundreds of thousands.
Israeli forces deliberately deprive residents in the Gaza Strip of the minimum amount of water needed to survive by systematically targeting water infrastructure, halting supply lines, destroying water plants and wells, and cutting off electricity and fuel needed to operate water and sanitation facilities.
The disruption of the two Mekorot water lines serving eastern Gaza City and the central governorate—which supplied over 35,000 cubic meters of water daily to more than 700,000 Palestinians—was one of the most significant Israeli steps aimed at pushing residents toward forced displacement.
Previous reports from the Government Media Office (GMO) stated that since October 7, 2023, Israel has destroyed more than 90% of the water and sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, prevented technical teams from conducting repairs, and targeted workers performing their humanitarian duties. It has also blocked fuel needed to operate wells and desalination plants, amid a complete electricity blackout since the start of the genocide.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNICEF have warned that the Gaza Strip is experiencing “the worst levels of food insecurity in the world,” as Israel continues to intentionally prevent the entry of aid.
Collapse of the healthcare system
Thirty-six hospitals have gone out of service—either from direct bombing, arson, destruction of equipment, or the prevention of fuel entry. Patients and the wounded suffer from severe shortages of essential medications, ventilators, and operating rooms, while relief teams are prevented from reaching disaster-stricken areas.
The bombing of the Baptist Hospital at dawn on Sunday, April 13, 2025, for the second time since the beginning of the genocide, serves as further evidence of the grim reality of the healthcare system in Gaza.
“It reflects Israel’s determination to dismantle all means of life in the Gaza Strip entirely and directly, as part of a clear path to eliminate all means of survival by undermining the remaining legal protections for the population, stripping them of the bare minimum conditions for life, and targeting critical infrastructure as a goal in itself—within a calculated policy aimed at manufacturing slow death and pushing Gaza toward total collapse,” according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
The World Health Organization has repeatedly stressed that Israel is violating international humanitarian law by systematically targeting health facilities and obstructing rescue and relief efforts.
Facets of the genocide committed by Israel
Since October 7, 2023, several international organizations have documented multiple patterns of genocidal acts in the Gaza Strip, including the mass killing of civilians using highly lethal weapons and internationally prohibited arms that have caused severe physical and psychological harm to hundreds of thousands.
The occupation authorities also impose inhumane living conditions that gradually lead to death—such as siege, starvation, mass forced displacement, repeated bombing of displacement zones, and the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid.
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said in a recent interview with Mediapart that “Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, based on the accepted legal standards.”
She described what has been happening in Gaza since Israel violated the ceasefire as genocide and called for an end to treating Israel as a normal state, labeling it an apartheid regime that commits crimes, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The global media campaign “Stop the Genocide” comes at a critical time, as the people of the Gaza Strip race against time to save their lives—sometimes from missile fire, and other times from the hunger that burns in their children’s bellies while their parents stand helpless.
According to its organizers, the campaign aims to amplify the free Palestinian voice, expose the truth to the world, unify media efforts against the machinery of disinformation, and strengthen the authentic Palestinian narrative.
What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not just a war—it is an ongoing crime against humanity being carried out before the eyes of the world. Silence is no longer an option in the face of a justice system that remains agonizingly out of reach.
