Gaza: Innocence meets Genocide
- activateeditor
- Sep 22
- 4 min read
By Munei Zoe Mbedzi
Murder isn’t a mistake; it’s a choice. Bombing an entire city isn’t a mistake; it is a
choice. Carrying your child’s limp body in your arms while trying to make sense of
the chaos around you isn’t a nightmare anymore; it has become a reality for so many
Palestinians. According to UNICEF, more than 50,000 children have been killed or
injured in Gaza. Hospitals, schools, and buildings have been bombed and destroyed
by the Israeli government. This isn’t a war; it is genocide.
What is happening in Gaza is inhumane and narrates a detailed story of what is
wrong with humanity and the world we call home. There is no justification for the
killings that have occurred in Gaza. We have normalized this genocide so much that
it has become yet another post, another video to double tap on our screens, repost,
and scroll past, forgetting about the mother we just witnessed crying over her child’s
lifeless body.
There is nothing normal about genocide, about a 7-year-old, like Sidra
Hassouna, being killed in an Israeli airstrike, as all that was left to show of her
existence were her legs torn off her body. There is nothing normal about children
scraping for the last grain of rice from a single pot. There is nothing normal about
parents carrying their children’s bodies from bombed buildings, or children being
forced to identify the bodies of their parents. Killing innocent children cannot and
should not be justified as self-defence; it is murder, plain and simple.
In August 2025, Israel orchestrated a double strike on a hospital, killing
approximately 20 people, including journalists who arrived to report the story and
health care workers from the World Health Organization and the Hamas-run health ministry. This wasn’t a mistake; it was intentional. There is a misconception that Israel is right in its actions, defending itself. But it isn’t. Israel has stronger military power and security, giving it the advantage. We need to stop justifying killing sprees and hold this country accountable.
Children in Gaza are starving, malnourished, and terrified. Many are alone. Too
many are dead. If we continue to justify Israel’s actions, we will remain stagnant as a
society—chained to trauma not of our making—because we refuse to see the
insanity in these crude killings. Children are not only starving, but their right to
education is being stripped away.
According to the United Nations, 64,000 people are currently living in famine
conditions, and 132,000 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition. This war is
fuelled by greed and entitlement. Gaza has endured a slow genocide since 2007,
after Hamas came into power, as the blockade cut off access to food, medicine, and
electricity. It doesn’t take murder to commit genocide. The suffering inflicted is
deliberate and inhumane.
In December 2023, South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
as a means to defuse the genocide happening in Gaza and seek peace. Although
South Africa urged the ICJ to order an immediate ceasefire, the court fell short of
doing so. Instead, it directed Israel to take concrete steps to comply with its
obligations under the Genocide Convention, including preventing genocidal acts,
allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, and curbing incitement.
The ruling was widely regarded as a partial victory for South Africa. While it did not
end Israel’s military campaign, the court acknowledged that there was a “plausible
risk of genocide” in Gaza. This marked a historic moment: the first time an
international court formally recognized that Israel’s actions could amount to
genocide, placing Israel under binding legal obligations to prevent such crimes.
Israel has killed innocent people and largely escaped accountability. Their hands are
stained with blood, yet some continue to justify—or even celebrate—their actions. In
September 2025, fire rained from the skies. Israel’s bombs tore through Yemen,
Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Palestine, leaving cities shattered and forever
changed. Homes crumbled, children screamed, and the world watched as six lands
suffered at the hands of pure evil. This was not just war—it was intentional suffering,
and a relentless reminder of the cost of simply just existing when power chooses
murder over peace. Genocide isn’t aesthetic. It isn’t a trend or a hashtag—it has become a lifestyle. We need to use our voices for those whose voices have been stolen. We need more
conversations about world peace, and political leaders driven to act on this crisis. We
need leaders who will use their platforms to restore strength and hope for all Palestinians.
We can never bring back the innocent lives lost in Gaza. The city has become a graveyard.
How many more children will we treat? How many more mothers must we console? How
many more dreams will be buried before this ends? The mother who longed to see her child
graduate, the child who wanted to become a doctor — gone. Gaza is full of dreams beneath
the rubble.
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