As the world marks the 77th anniversary of Al Nakba, the “catastrophe” that uprooted over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and homeland in 1948 (incidentally the same year that Sri Lanka obtained Independence) to create the State of Israel, the plight of Palestine’s children has reached levels of suffering and deprivation unimaginable in recent times. Even Ethiopia, Sudan or Yemen have not reached these levels of depravity.
This year, the Al Nakba anniversary is not just a solemn remembrance, but a living reality for over a million children in Gaza, many of whom are now facing starvation, trauma, and the daily threat of death by missile or drone.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the war in Gaza, now in its 20th month, has killed at least 53,822 Palestinians, wounded over 122,000, and left countless others missing under the rubble. Most of the casualties are civilians, mainly women and children.
Starvation-related deaths
The Gazan Health Ministry has registered at least 29 children and elderly among the recent dead as “starvation-related deaths.” Humanitarian agencies say that thousands more are at risk of dying from hunger and disease as the territory’s health system collapses and a suffocating aid blockade continues. Such intentional starvation of a civilian population during a war counts as a war crime.
This is not a tragedy born of natural disaster, but a man-made catastrophe – a direct result of decisions made in the corridors of power in Tel Aviv and elsewhere far removed from the agonised cries of Gaza’s children. Israel’s offensive, launched in response to the attacks on its military facilities and civilians by Palestinian armed groups including Hamas (which de-facto controls the Gaza Strip) on October 7, 2023, has turned Gaza into a vast open-air concentration camp where food, water, medicine, and hope are all in desperately short supply.
And even as a handful of aid trucks trickle through border crossings, described by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as no more than “a teaspoon” compared to the ocean of need, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) continue to strike hospitals, schools, clinics, and homes, destroying the very fabric of Palestinian society. While more than 800 trucks entered Gaza per day during the last ceasefire, now only a few are allowed to enter.
The impact on Gazan children is especially harrowing. UN bodies estimate that 93 percent of children in Gaza are now at risk of famine. Hospital wards echo with the weak cries of babies born underweight, many clinging to life because their mothers are too malnourished to feed them.
Clinics have all but run out of even basic medicines, and the lack of clean water and hygiene supplies has led to a surge in various diseases. For the children of Gaza, each day is a battle to survive, not only bombs, but also the slow violence of hunger and neglect.
It is in this context that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week laid out his Government’s intention to “take control of the entire Gaza Strip”. Far from being a temporary measure, the mobilisation of the IDF, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the talk of reimposing direct military rule all point to an alarming vision: the effective erasure of Palestinian political life (in fact all life) in Gaza. He has said that the release of the remaining hostages is no longer the aim of the Gaza War. With corruption charges still dogging him and public opinion slipping, he has fashioned Gaza into both a battlefield and a diversion.
Coupled with plans first unveiled by US President Donald Trump to forcibly remove the population and turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, the spectre of ethnic cleansing (a war crime) and permanent occupation looms large over Gaza’s battered people.
While Trump has apparently moved on from the idea, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has clung on to it and made it even more extreme. After all, Israel is no stranger to occupying others’ lands –West Bank, Golan Heights and Jerusalem are examples.
Such ambitions, openly voiced, represent a betrayal not only of the hopes of generations of Palestinians but also of international law, basic morality, and the principles that undergird the global community. They echo the darkest chapters of the last century, of mass displacement and engineered suffering, the very crimes the world swore “never again” after 1945 and the creation of the UN itself.
Hour of darkness
It is heartening, in this hour of darkness, to see a growing chorus of international condemnation. Several countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), France, and Canada, have suspended trade talks and threatened sanctions in protest at Israel’s actions. When French President Emmanuel Macron recently floated the idea of formally recognising a Palestinian State, a proposal backed by more than 140 countries at the UN, Netanyahu’s response was to label the move a “huge prize for terror”.
As this episode illustrates, there is a renewed push in Europe to recognise the State of Palestine, a move that would finally give legal weight to the aspirations of millions who have waited too long for justice under the proposed “two-State solution”.
Several Nordic countries have done that already, leading Israel to cut back on its diplomatic presence in those countries. Even President’s Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has reportedly told Netanyahu that prolonging the war was not only immoral but strategically suicidal. In fact, Washington secured the release of the last American held hostage by Hamas through direct and third negotiations that completely bypassed Israel.
Two-State solution
Sri Lanka, for its part, has a proud history of standing with the Palestinian people. Successive Governments have supported Resolutions at the UN affirming Palestinian self-determination, and last year, Sri Lanka renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza. Our leaders have called for a two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders, recognising East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and have sent humanitarian relief in solidarity.
But statements alone are not enough. As we mark 77 years since Al Nakba, the world, and Sri Lanka, must demand more, i.e., an end to the occupation, the right of return for refugees, and accountability for heinous war crimes perpetrated by the IDF.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the IDF even ambushed an ambulance convoy and admitted their grave mistake only after being presented with irrefutable video evidence. It even killed a boy who witnessed the whole episode and talked about it on television.
We must raise our voices, not just in sympathy, but in action, and remind all who wield power that the children of Gaza are not mere statistics, but the bearers of humanity’s hope and conscience.
Let this anniversary not be another footnote in a long history of betrayal, but a turning point. For if we fail Gaza’s children today, we betray the very ideals we claim to uphold as a nation and as a global community.
