MARCH 16, 2025
There have been so many mornings after long nights of troubled sleep these past eighteen months when I have started my day thinking this was it--this would finally be the moment, the thing, the time the world would awaken and together do what is necessary to end this injustice, to stop this violence, to try to begin to put right so many wrongs which have left permanent scars and mountains of grief that will never be fully processed.
How I have been wrong so many times. How my heart has broken with each wrong day.
With Israel's continue violation of the ceasefire agreement, and constant flagrant violations of every international and humanitarian law, conditions in Gaza continue to be dangerous as they find ways to extend their genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people.
Military aggression and the sadistic violent targeting of people as they try to survive have increased. Since the very beginning of the ceasefire implementation, Israeli forces have continued their attacks, intermittently firing upon or bombing individuals with drones, killing approximately three Palestinians per day. The use of drones to create a permanent sense of danger and threat is also common, as they hover above tents and play threatening messages when people are trying to rest.
Israel's most recent total blockade of trucks and supplies, which began on March 2, means Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from extreme hunger and ill health, as conditions worsen by the minute. How we have allowed this to continue defies comprehension.
These past two weeks have been very very difficult. The water crisis has only grown more dire, with Israel cutting power to the last remaining desalination plant this week. Food prices have skyrocketed, and people are forced to survive on canned food with low nutritional content, which exacerbates chronic health problems, especially for those already suffering from high blood pressure. Which also means new health ailments and diseases are becoming increasingly widespread. And because it is Ramadan, people are fasting, which means there is also great suffering from not having enough food after fasting for 16 hours at a time.
Everyone I talk with is exhausted. Everyone is weary. Many are sick. And no one knows when this will end. And all of this suffering, hardship, and danger is not the result of a natural disaster which cannot be controlled– it is a deliberate, human-made crisis being intentionally inflicted to cause harm.
When I spoke with a friend on Friday, and I asked how he was, he said he was fine. He always tries to reassure me, never wanting me to worry. I responded that I was glad he was fine, but that I also understood that nothing was fine, that everything was difficult. And that was when he finally said:
"We are living in a nightmare. We hope it ends quickly, because this is not life."
[This animated image above includes some of the words shared with me by the families in Gaza who I am closest to.]
The pain of seeing others suffer and not being able to stop it is different from the pain of living through the suffering first-hand. But it is still a pain that binds us, and it drives my every action, hope, and prayer. I have stepped up all my efforts to raise funds because it is the main thing I can do to help right now. I am talking to everyone I can. I am selling anything I have of value. I am planning more fundraisers. Every day I seek out more ways to do more and to reach more people. I share this with you not to center myself–I hope the focus will always be on the families in Gaza who are trying to survive–I share it because I want you to understand how the support you have given is important. It is making a difference. It is helping. And it is needed. Anything you can do or give right now is needed.
The families I am talking with every day are living in a nightmare which feels never-ending, a nightmare from which they hope to awaken. A nightmare that would end if we could wake up those in this world who are still too asleep to understand and stop what is happening.
Please don't stop talking about Gaza, don’t stop giving your support. And if you haven't started yet, please start now. Bring this awareness with you to every space you are in. Give as much as you can afford to give. Lives literally depend on it, and we have a duty and responsibility to support those who are trying to survive, especially when we have been unable to stop what is being done to them.
