Letter from Gaza: Sorry, Amjad, that we could do nothing to help you

Gaza / Amjad Al Shawa, Director of the Palestinian Network of NGOs (PNGO) This letter was written on Saturday morning.


Dear friends all over the world,


I'm calling on you in this moment while the Gaza Strip where I'm living is under attack by the Israeli occupation forces. They are showing no mercy; killing children, our beautiful youth and women. Sixty Palestinians were killed since Wednesday, the youngest of whom was six months old. Tens have been injured.


One of the people killed by an Israeli air strike was one of the PNGO staff in Gaza. Amjad Almrety was 26 years old. That young man was smiling all of the time, and was energetic and looking for the future with big dreams. There are no words to express our sad feelings towards our loss of Amjad, and of course the loss of all of the others.


Sorry, Amjad, that we could do nothing to help you. Our hands are cuffed with nothing to do except just carrying some hope that people who hold the value of justice will act to end the Israeli genocidal crimes against our people.


This morning another three children were killed while they were in their beds. What kind of crime did they commit, what kind of guilt did they possess, to be killed in such a way?


Our PNGO office was partially destroyed and also the Medical Relief Society Headquarters and its ambulance were destroyed as result of an Israeli air strike.


My children couldn't go to school this morning; they couldn't sleep all the night because of the continual air strikes. It has become too dangerous to move in the city of Gaza.


Israel is still imposing the siege and closure on the Gaza Strip, preventing people and goods to move. At least 105 patients have died suffering from a shortage of medicines while awaiting Israeli “permission” to gain access out of the Gaza Strip to be treated abroad since Gaza hospitals suffer from a shortage of basic medical supplies and medicines.


Israel continues to decrease the amount of fuel allowed to enter Gaza. Thousands of cars stopped moving in the Gaza Strip. And also due to the fuel cuts, four sewage pumping stations in Gaza City and the north of Gaza have flooded. The pumps failed because of the lack of fuel, and also due to a lack of parts to keep up with repairs as nothing is allowed in. The people of Gaza are also suffering from hours of electricity cuts.


All of this is in addition to the water situation. Israel is preventing chlorine from entering the Strip which is needed to treat the drinking water as the sewage and water mains are damaged.


People are loosing hope day by day. Eighty percent live under the line of poverty, with the full meaning and implications of such.

Please, it is time to act to end the silence towards these crimes. Say your words. Our people are building their only hope on your actions to end the siege and to bring back any semblance of hope to our lives.


Act for justice.