What is happening in Gaza today is not an incidental event nor the result of a “military error” as claimed by some media outlets supporting the occupation. Rather, it is a clear extension of a colonial approach built on the foundations of extermination, exclusion, and uprooting. From the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to the Nakba in 1948, from the invasion of Beirut to the successive wars on Gaza, this genocide forms part of a clear colonial system that seeks to empty the land of its people by all means, the most horrific being the killing of children and civilians to make the Israeli settler project appear as if it faces no human obstacles.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the number of children martyred in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip reached 16,503 children as of May 22, 2025. The age groups were distributed as follows:

Infants (under 1 year): 916 martyrs

Children (1–5 years): 4,365 martyrs

Children (6–12 years): 6,101 martyrs

Adolescents (13–17 years): 5,124 martyrs

When such a massive number of children are killed, the aim is not only to cause the highest number of casualties but also to erase the future. Children are the extension of a people, and their deaths mean the breaking of the human chain and the national identity. These martyrs were not mere numbers; they were future doctors, teachers, engineers, artists, and athletes. By exterminating them, Israel attempts to alter the course of the Palestinian future and turn it into a void, believing it can eliminate the cause at its roots.

The deliberate killing of children constitutes a crime under Article 6(3) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 77 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. Moreover, the deliberate starvation of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza where 90% of the population suffers from food insecurity is classified as a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute, which prohibits depriving civilians of indispensable items for their survival.

Even more alarming is that these violations are committed systematically, accompanied by statements from Israeli leaders such as calling Palestinians “animals” or denying the existence of civilians which indicate an intent to commit genocide as per Article 6 of the Genocide Convention (1948), especially with the targeting of specific groups (children, doctors, journalists).

These horrifying statistics expose the falsehood of the Israeli narrative claiming self-defense and disprove its repeated claim of being “the most moral army in the world.” The genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza — particularly against children and civilians — confirms that these are systematic crimes that cannot be justified.

The Israeli occupation has been committing such atrocities against Palestinians for over 77 years. Today, this genocide is being carried out in front of the world’s eyes and cameras. This is not a fleeting war or a reaction to the events of October 7, but a continuation of an old methodology upon which the occupation was founded in 1948: either kill Palestinians or expel them from their land.

The massacres committed by Zionist gangs in 1948, such as the Deir Yassin massacre, continue to be repeated today in even more brutal ways. Back then, the gangs would shoot pregnant women in the womb to kill the unborn; today, homes are bombed by warplanes to annihilate entire families, turning bodies into charred remains buried under rubble, often without a trace.

The Zionist idea has never ceased seeking to empty Palestine of its people, using ever-evolving methods but with fixed goals. In every assault, Israel commits crimes more heinous than the last, killing civilians and innocents indiscriminately and with brutal violence.

These crimes are even openly promoted by occupation leaders. At the start of the aggression on Gaza, the ousted War Minister Yoav Gallant described Gaza’s residents as “animals.” Knesset member Ohad Tal declared, “There are no innocents in Gaza.” Ben Gvir and Smotrich made repeated statements explicitly calling for the killing of Palestinians, their displacement, starvation, and deprivation of humanitarian aid.

The Israeli occupation was built on the idea of killing Palestinians or forcing them to emigrate a principle that still guides its policies today, using starvation, chaos, total destruction, and war crimes as tools to terrorize the population and drive them to flee.

Children are not the only victims. The Israeli occupation has destroyed the entire Gaza Strip and killed women, journalists, youth, doctors, academics, athletes, artists, and even the elderly. No one has been spared from the Zionist killing machine.

Systematic complicity

Despite all this, international reactions have been below expectations, far from the scale of the catastrophe. Even after more than 600 days of massacres, the world has failed to stop the bloodshed or deter the occupation.

Had these crimes occurred anywhere else, Western countries would have immediately labeled them as “genocide.” In the Ukraine war (2022), it took only days for the international community to accuse Russia of “war crimes” after the death of about 500 children (according to UNICEF). In Gaza, over 16,000 children have been killed without serious action.

The stark contrast: In Ukraine, Western countries imposed immediate sanctions on Russia (freezing assets, banning banks, cutting off oil). Meanwhile, during Israel’s aggression on Gaza, military support increased by 30% (according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). In Ukraine, the International Criminal Court referred the case to international investigators within weeks. In Palestine which has endured killing for 77 years the world still only offers promises of “investigations” with no tangible outcomes.

This contradiction exposes the double standard of international law: when the perpetrator is a Western ally, genocide becomes “the right to self-defense,” but when the victims are Palestinians, the matter is reduced to a “complex conflict.”

After more than 17 months of aggression, the number of martyrs has exceeded 54,000 Palestinians, with more than 122,000 wounded and nearly 10,000 prisoners in occupation jails. Yet international condemnation remains weak and hesitant, failing to bring any real change on the ground.

Even when some countries, like the United Kingdom, announced the suspension of negotiations for a new free trade agreement with the occupation, existing agreements remain in force and continue to bolster Israel’s economic and military power, which it uses to kill Palestinians.

As for the so-called humanitarian aid entering Gaza, it does not even reach the level of a token gesture. What enters is not enough for the smallest group of displaced people in Gaza and is used politically to reduce international pressure rather than respond to the scale of the disaster.

The people of Gaza are deliberately starved, their families killed, and then the world is told that the occupation “allowed” a few trucks to enter. These trucks, when they pass before our eyes, represent nothing but a drop of water cast into a desert of death and suffering.

But the Palestinian cause has never been about aid. It was never about a handful of food or money. It has always been and still is the cause of an occupied homeland and a people seeking their freedom and right to self-determination.

Over time, international demands have diminished from establishing a Palestinian state, to halting settlements, to lifting the blockade, and today, to simply stopping the killing. And even that killing hasn’t stopped. The world is silenced by a few aid trucks.

To this moment, international reactions have not been enough to stop the genocide or feed the hungry. They may only suffice to deceive people into thinking that their governments are “doing something” for Gaza.

What is happening in Gaza is not a military battle. It is an open massacre against civilians, committed daily before the eyes and ears of the world and still, the world remains unmoved. How many children must be killed? How many homes must be bombed? How many schools must be destroyed before we call things by their real names? This is genocide. This is a war crime. And this is a moment of reckoning for everyone who claims to be human.

Silence is no longer acceptable, and neutrality is no longer possible. Either you stand with justice, with life, with the children or you stand with the executioners.