We are in Israel’s endgame for Gaza — we must stop it now

We are bequeathing our children a world of horror and death, livestreamed, with no consequences for the perpetrators 

Ahmed El-Sheikh Eid, 7, shows signs of malnutrition, at his family tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Mawasi Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Picture: AP Photo

One minute I was on the steps of 10 Downing Street, the next, I was bleeding out on a chair in Channel 4 studios. In between those two events, I was attacked by a man who threatened to kill me if I didn’t shut up about the Darfur genocide. Hours later, I miscarried my baby doing a live interview — about the genocide.

I told this story to a colleague for the first time recently. He expressed empathy for my loss and outrage that I endured such violence doing my job (at the time, I was an anti-genocide campaigner and Sudan reporter for the UK Independent). Around 232 journalists have been killed in Gaza, so I asked him why he hasn’t expressed empathy or outrage for them? Not one column inch, not one tweet? His reply: “It’s depressing”.

I told him about photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed last month in an Israeli airstrike with 10 family members (including her pregnant sister), within hours of announcing that a film about her life was airing at Cannes. In the event of her death, she posted on X that she wanted her life and legacy to live on through her images. Asked previously how she coped photographing dismembered Palestinian corpses she replied: “You put your soul on your hand and walk”. My colleague was moved to share Fatima’s story. It’s a start.

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, has forensically evidenced that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. An Amnesty investigation concurred, warning, “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now”. Recently, 23 UN experts demanded immediate international intervention or bear witness to the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza — “an outcome with irreversible consequences for our shared humanity and multilateral order”. They cited the over 52,535 killed (a Lancet report estimated over 64,000) of which 70% are women and children.

Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip. Picture: AP 

News coverage of this genocide was recently dictated, not by these human rights experts, but by Sharon Osborne's thoughts on Kneecap. On Monday, Save the Children warned, “Every single child is at risk of famine … They are being starved by design, under Israeli authorities' total siege. There is food, water, and medical aid ready to go, but it’s being blocked at the border while families are forced to eat animal feed and leaves, taking unimaginable and dehumanising measures to survive”.

The same day, RTÉ news at 9pm distorted the Pope’s speech, changing his call for the release of “all” hostages to “Israeli” hostages. This isn’t just bias, the erasure of Palestinians in this way is emblematic of dehumanising reporting that has arguably enabled the manufacturing of consent for the actual erasure of Palestinians in Gaza.

“Israel denies…” is another staple of many media outlets. In the many interviews I gave on Darfur, no journalist ever said, “The Sudanese president denies he’s committing genocide”. Because, like Benjamin Netanyahu, he was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity (including starvation) with a warrant out for his arrest. Our job is to interrogate government officials about their actions to end this genocide and to bring war criminals before the Hague, not to misappropriate editorial impartiality.

US support

The US proposition of putting mercenaries in charge of aid in Gaza is akin to putting Jeffrey Epstein in charge of a centre for vulnerable teenagers. The US consistently voted against a ceasefire. It supplies the bombs to blow children to smithereens and destroy aid depots. Donald Trump has announced plans to desecrate Gaza with a golden Riviera where global fascists can convene to exchange torture techniques whilst eating happy meals, washed down by Coca-Cola to the soundtrack of Israel’s Eurovision entry. Because make no mistake, if the US and Israel get away with genocide in Gaza, it won’t end there.

The UN says at least 100 children have been killed or injured every day in Gaza since the Israeli strikes resumed on March 18. 

One of them was 4-month-old Youssef who was starved to death. The footage of his tiny, emaciated body, bones poking through a thin layer of skin, terror in his bulging eyes, will haunt me forever. This is what moral collapse looks like

If you’re tuning in to watch Israel dance on the mangled bones (there are no graves) of the butchered at the Eurovision this week, think of the 500 children who will be killed, starved or injured over the course of those five days. What’s another year — of normalising genocide.

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Our youth are watching this horror, livestreamed on their phones, witnessing the decimation of world order and humanity by the collective moral breakdown of Western governments, aided and abetted by a largely supine Western media. Knowing their silence is complicity, they protest peacefully, many arrested and labelled terrorists — for wanting peace. Is a world infused with hate and cruelty, rampaging with impunity, what we want to bequeath our children?

This is the endgame. Last week, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip.” Israel is starving Palestinians into submission or death. Palestinian journalists are livestreaming their own genocide. It’s our job to take the baton, plaster Fatima Hassouna’s images of starving children on every front page and put our hands on our souls and hold our own government to account. 

Starting with scrutinising the delayed enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill.