I got a message to join a session about prevailing conditions of Palestine particularly the Gaza; the speaker of the session was the President of Alkhidmat Foundation Dr. Hafeezur Rehman. We all are quite updated about the atrocities of Gazans due to the social media platforms despite biased policies of a few social media applications. In the morning once I had a thought that probably it will be the waste of time to attend the presentation but the grief of the people of Gaza drove me to the head office of Alkidmat Foundation to listen to the speaker.
The gallantry of people of Gaza is simply exceptional from a child to the elderly. In early days of the conflict we all witnessed a video of a lady in her eighties refusing to leave her home while majority of her neighborhood left following the ultimatum of Israeli defence forces, hours later there was all rubble including her house while reporters were certain that the lady embraced martyrdom. Throughout the conflict we did not witness even a single clip of misconduct by any Hamas fighters with Israeli prisoners of war while there is abundance of videos on social media platforms depicting indiscriminate manhandling of Israeli troops with men, women and children.
Israeli spokespersons quote and refer to the data and trends of wars during last hundred years, a few of cold-hearted representatives did mention even about Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a cunning manner. Attacking Jabaliya refugee camp with 2000-pound bombs twice in a few days speaks volume about savagery and madness of Israeli military.
The brutality of Israel is unprecedented in the known human history. If we compare death toll of children during 48 days of the conflict with entire six years of World War Two (WWII), it is 80% more than the per day death toll of children in WWII. According to the estimates around 69 children were killed per day during WWII while in Gaza count stands at 125 children per day. Save the Children reported on November 28, 2023 that at least 6,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the escalation.
According to the reports over 1.8 million people in Gaza, or nearly 80 per cent of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced. Of them, nearly 1.1 million IDPs are sheltering in 156 UNRWA facilities across Gaza. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, “About 15,100 housing units were destroyed and 10,656 housing units were rendered uninhabitable, 139,000 housing units were subjected to minor to moderate damage, pointing to the destruction of entire neighborhoods, especially in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Shujaiya, the area between Gaza and the Beach refugee camp and Abasan Kabira in Khan Yunis.”
Vanessa Romo from NPR’s news desk reported on November 21, 2023, “Israeli attacks have killed more than 200 healthcare workers in Gaza since the start of the war, and another 215 health workers have been wounded. And those left behind say there is little time to mourn the dead.”
According to Lauren Leatherby of New York Times (November 26, 2023), “More than twice as many women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after almost two years of Russian attacks, according to United Nations estimates. And the number of women and children reported killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began last month has already started to approach the civilians documented to have been killed by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan during nearly 20 years of war. More than 60,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the Gaza Strip, satellite analysis indicates, including about half of the buildings in northern Gaza.”
Alkhidmat is working on several fronts. Initially Alkhidmat extended ready food in collaboration with Turkish NGOs. The speaker of the session explained that how relief goods are supplied utilizing Egypt’s El Arish airport and how odd mechanism at Rafah Crossing is causing difficulties for relief activities; while audience were astonished that Palestinians are being discriminated and denied right of free movement ceasing Gazans in a real-life cage for people. Alkhidmat plans to establish a field hospital with the technical help from a Turkish institution which requires around 2.5 billion rupees. He emphasized that Alkhidmat has abundance of supplies of relief goods but the real challenge is the transportation. They are working in close liaison with the government to extend every possible relief to the civilians in the Gaza to contribute a bit in reliving their agony.
However, they need facilitation for exclusive cargo plans to transport winter packages for the people of Gaza which costs around six thousand rupees per person. I am taking this opportunity to request every Pakistani to contribute to this noble cause to the fullest of their capacity in any given manner. Alkhidmat also launched an app to register volunteer doctors to travel to the Gaza to extend medical support to the wounded and sick civilians of the Strip. It was a moment of gratitude for the speaker to mention that around three thousand doctors have already volunteered to travel to Gaza while more than fifteen hundred are female doctors among them which indeed shows a deep concern and commitment to the humanity. We all have to extend what we can to the orphans, widows, elderly, sick and wounded human beings of Gaza to give them hope that morality has not yet vanished.
—The writer is Associate Professor Management Sciences and Head, Centre of Islamic Finance, COMSATS University (CUI) Lahore Campus, Pakistan.
Email: drabdussattar@cuilahore.edu.pk
views expressed are writer’s own.
