Palestinians don’t need our pity, they don’t need our praise. They need our meaningful and truthful solidarity. And there is no time for despair.
~ Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan ~
This slideshow is the second in a four-part series about the ongoing Israeli-executed genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza with a focus on children. The first, Genocide in Gaza, was published on 30 October 2024.
Almost half of the Palestinians are children under the age of 18. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates that there are 1,067,986 children in Gaza and 1,364,548 in the West Bank as of mid-2024. Children constitute approximately 41% of the population in the West Bank and 47% in Gaza. Al Jazeera reported that nearly 70% of the deaths in Gaza are women and children. Overall, 44% of the victims were children; the youngest was just hours old (updated) and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman.
Oxford Languages defines redemption as “the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.” What Israel has done and continues to do in Gaza with a vengeance is beyond redemption. Humanity’s only hope is to live to love and care for all sentient beings and our natural world.
As I stated in one of the final slides, Israel is by definition a settler colonial state. By taking the ideology of Zionism to its logical conclusion, the expansion of the country’s borders, consistent with the goals of the ‘Greater Israel’ project, it has metamorphosed into a genocidal state. Anyone that stands in its way must be eliminated through murder, starvation, disease, and, for the lucky ones, displacement. It is beyond redemption, as are the countries that have supported it in thought, word, and deed.
Since the genocide in Gaza began, I have read a steady stream of posts and articles and watched hundreds of videos of suffering, dying, and dead Palestinian men, women, and children. Here is a post by Tamam Abusalama, a LinkedIn contact, about two children who were murdered, along with their mother, in an IDF airstrike in Al-Sheikh Redwan, a district of Gaza City.
👼 Adam and Elen 👼
These are the children of my brother’s best friend
🏴 They were murdered today (8.1.25) in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Sheikh Redwan with their mother
Their father, Aboud, was among the workers who were given work permission in Israel. After the start of the genocide, he was arrested and sent to the West Bank.
🎂 Two days ago, it was Elen’s 4th birthday. Her father wrote on an Instagram story: “May God reunite us soon, you are a piece of my heart.”
He will never see them again. Israel took them away from him in one missile and left him the only survivor of his family. These are the losses we’ve been dealing with every single day for the past 452 days of genocide. What can we do with that much of pain❓
Here’s an 8-minute and 25-second video testimonial by Mark Perlmutter, about the genocide he witnessed during his time in Gaza. It was uploaded to YouTube on 8 January 2025.
Follow this link to watch The Children of Gaza, an 8-minute and 39-second video. I include a description, some commentary, and a list of resources.
An International Educator in Vietnam 
“No one can afford the privilege of pessimism and apathy and certainly not Palestinians from inside Gaza, or outside, or any non Palestinians. (…) Lemkin in defining ‘genocide’ made clear that it is a crime against all of us, a crime against humanity as it were. So the genocide against Gaza, is a crime against me, and all people. That is why I have been speaking out tirelessly as I have. I’ve also been working on the Rohingya genocide (through the organisation I founded and run since leaving UNRWA) fighting for accountability through national courts and at the ICJ, which also ordered provisional measures so I have long experience of this. I am sure the court will order provisional measures and at that point, we must all grab the opportunity and run with it. All of humanity owes this to the people of Gaza and I firmly reject the notion that anyone is exempt from this responsibility.”
Chris Gunness, 11 January 2024
Law for Palestine Releases Database with 500+ Instances of Israeli Incitement to Genocide – Continuously Updated https://law4palestine.org/law-for-palestine-releases-database-with-500-instances-of-israeli-incitement-to-genocide-continuously-updated/
Gaza’s Children: A Tragedy in Three PartsPrelude: Palestinian Parents Love their Children as Much as You Do (9.12.24) https://palicollective.substack.com/p/gazas-children-a-tragedy-in-three
Israeli historian Ilan Pappe: ‘This is the last phase of Zionism’ (14.1.25) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/14/israeli-historian-ilan-pappe-this-is-the-last-phase-of-zionism
I participated in war crimes’: Israeli troops open up about Gaza genocide (14.1.25) https://www.trtworld.com/discrimination/i-participated-in-war-crimes-israeli-troops-open-up-about-gaza-genocide-18253408
Gaza ceasefire: After 15 months of brutality, Israel has failed on every front (15.1.25) https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-ceasefire-after-15-months-brutality-israel-has-failed-every-front
‘Damning’ New Poll Shows Price Kamala Harris Paid for Backing Israeli Genocide in Gaza (15.1.25) https://www.commondreams.org/news/harris-gaza
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”✨
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
Read what a Zionist by the name of Nicholas Frishmann (NF) had to say in response to this LinkedIn post by Mohammed Umair about a child who was murdered by the IDF:
“Azmi Mohammed Abu Sha’ar was just 10 years old. A child who should have been dreaming of the future, playing with his siblings, and feeling safe in his parents’ arms. But instead, he wrote his final will on a mobile memo, knowing his young life could end at any moment in the relentless bombings on Gaza.
“Peace and mercy be upon you,” he wrote. “If I sleep and never wake, please forgive me, Mom, Dad, my sisters Naima, Shahd, Maryam, and my brother Mahmoud. I am truly sorry if I ever upset you. I, Azouz, feel like I won’t last long. Mom, please take care of Mahmoud. Naima, I apologize for disturbing you. Shahd, Maryam, and Mahmoud, I love you all. To my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and everyone, I ask for your forgiveness.”
This was his last message before the Israeli attacks took his life. Can you imagine a 10-year-old preparing to die? Can you imagine the fear and heartbreak that led him to write these words, asking for forgiveness as if he were to blame for the violence forced upon him?
For 76 years, innocent lives like Azmi’s have been taken. This is not just war—this is the systematic erasure of a people, of children like Azmi who deserved to live, laugh, and grow old. His words haunt us, a reminder of the human cost of oppression and violence.
Azmi was not just a victim; he was a child who loved his family deeply, even in the face of death. His voice must echo in our hearts. How many more Azmis will it take before the world finally says enough?”
NF: “Azmi was a victim of Hamas and not of anybody else .
Before Oct 7th 2023 Azmi’s future was an open book full of opportunities but Hamas decided to sacrifice his life for the pleasure of killing and kidnapping Israelies and then hidding in tunnels under Azmi’s house
Go complain to Hamas.”
How many times have I heard this lame Zionist canard as if the atrocities of 7 October 2023 justify genocide in Gaza. NF had nothing to say about the Greater Israel project, which is the ultimate goal of the genocide and other Israeli state-sponsored terrorism. Just review Craig Mokhiber’s Israeli (read Zionist) Propaganda Framework, which I’ve shared too many times to count: https://markashwill.com/2024/11/20/the-israeli-read-zionist-propaganda-framework/. It applies to other privileged and entitled settler colonialists. Rinse, repeat. I generally don’t respond to these provocations because 1) life is short; and 2) I don’t want to feed the Zionist trolls.