The shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant will exacerbate an already desperate humanitarian crisis for more than 2.2 million people trapped in the Gaza Strip.

Israel must lift the illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza as power plant runs out of fuel.https://t.co/VH4l3gwu9r

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) October 12, 2023

More on this topic:
I Do Not Believe more Children need to Die to Pay for my Family’s Suffering.
An (Incomplete) Beginner’s Guide to the Israel-Hamas War.
Today I Woke Up. [Free Palestine]
Powerful Words for Israel, Palestine & Everyone who’s on the Side of Humanity.
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*Editor’s Note: Elephant Journal articles represent the personal views of the authors, and can not possibly reflect Elephant Journal as a whole. Disagree with an Op-Ed or opinion? We’re happy to share your experience here.

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Israel has been oppressing the Palestinians for years.

Israel has been killing innocent Palestinians, including children, for years.

What Hamas did last week was horrible—and so too is what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians, for years.

I have found myself so frustrated this last week because while yes, what Hamas did was horrible—where has the world’s outrage been over Israel’s killing of innocent Palestinians for years?

Human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have detailed the systematic oppression and discrimination of Israel against the Palestinians—Israel’s apartheid against the Palestinians.

Israel should be held accountable just as any other nation should be if they did what Israel has been doing for years. But because of complete, at-all-costs, no-matter-what support by the United States, because of the absolute unwillingness of the U.S. to take any action or even really criticize Israel at all, it is allowed to continue to do what it is doing.

Killing civilians, innocent people, is wrong. What Hamas did last week was horrible. And the apartheid, oppression, and aggression of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people is wrong.

I have seen so many biased news articles in the United States. I have seen people saying that this is “not the time” to talk about these things.

This is the exact time to talk about it because the world needs to know and be aware of what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians for decades. And if we are not aware, if the news only portrays one-sided, lopsided, biased news coverage—it allows a whole people to be dehumanized, which is what has been happening to the Palestinian people. And it is wrong.

The world needs to understand what has been happening to the Palestinian people.

Below is a video I watched the other day from a Pro-Palestinian rally in Ireland.

Everyone deserves to live a life where they feel safe, where they have basic human rights—this includes Israelis and Palestinians.

Here’s the video:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

And here are a few links that detail what human rights groups have found:

Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians, Amnesty International

Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity, Amnesty International

A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, Human Rights Watch

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