War on Children (Gaza, Palestine)
An old man sits at my deserted table / “how could they do this”, he asks. / He asked the walls. / He asked the flowers that had already died / in October. A poem by séamas carraher
“And most certainly shall We try you by means of danger, and hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of [labour’s] fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient in adversity.”
The Quran, Al-Baqara (the Cow) 2:155
1
The sound
of the singing shells
(in Gaza)
has taken the tongue
from its mouth.
“Kill anything that moves,”
the Israeli generals say…
In this darkest of rooms
the hands of the clock are beating
each day into my brain
like a nail,
the soundless silence crying
“help, help, help!”
But it is the children’s eyes
on the screen
that scares the noise away,
takes all the breath from the lungs.
It tears like a crazy person through
the walls of the house
and still no peace can come.
2
An old man sits at my deserted table
“how could they do this”, he asks.
He asked the walls.
He asked the flowers that had already died
in October.
“Who planted the hatred in Hamas’ heart”,
he asks?
He asked this shadow of my self
who had left here long before with
the babies dead in their new-born-cots
(Al Nasr Hospital, November 10, 2023)
“What sick soldier would leave a human child
as food for maggots”?
…while they march the doctors out
at gun point.
…Or the voices of the children crying
“mama’ from the depths
of rubble never to be moved?
Or one small child alone in his misery
just shaking, shaking, shaking
as if the mother of all winters had come
to take the place of his butchered parents.
Or… or… or…
3
Oh, i know now
they have all left
or will soon all leave,
gone out who-knows-where
without the keys to the house
but only a map to search for
the missing body parts
…bombed into oblivion.
4
i could live without this tongue.
i could travel far from this place where
the soldiers send their girlfriends pictures
of corpses instead of bouquets.
Where they laugh and dance at the death
of a six year old running down the street.
i could live without eyes and ears.
As already we are taught to live
with neither heart nor soul
in this cold-black-mindless Holocaust
…where the six o clock news rings its bell
for these children with
their families already blown
into fragments
…themselves now soon to die.
This then the never-ending news
no one can ever silence again.
“Alhamdulillah”…
“Praise be to God”.
“Allahu Akbar“…
“God is great”
Amen.
séamas carraher
Image
100 Days of Israel’s Relentless Assault, Al Jazeera (“fair use”)
Notes
Harrowing video shows premature babies dead in Gaza hospital
“A harrowing video published by Al-Mashhad TV shows premature Palestinian babies dead in the care ward of the Al-Nasr Hospital in northern Gaza. Doctors were forced to leave the babies behind in the hospital after they were reportedly given 30 minutes to evacuate the hospital by Israeli forces and leave patients.”
Middle East Eye, November 29, 2023
Additional reporting on the death of the infants
Human Rights Watch, December 1, 2023
Days of Killing: 124
As of February 7, 2024, the killing in Gaza stands at Day 124
Israeli Version
ILTV Israel News – Day 124 – 7 February 2024
100 days of Israel’s relentless war on Gaza | Al Jazeera Newsfeed
Additional Information / UNRWA Situation Report – 1-3 February 2024
“According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza as of 2 February, at least 27,131 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. About 70 per cent of those killed are reported to be women and children. Another 66,287 Palestinians have been reportedly injured.
“Who planted the hatred in Hamas’ heart”,
See: Chris Hedges “The Death of Israel: How a Settler Colonial State Destroyed Itself”
mediasanctuary – January 30, 2024
Alhamdullilah”, etc.
“We should say, “Alhamdullilah” for what we have; and most importantly, “Allahu Akbar” when we are faced with the challenges of life.”
“Allahu Akbar”
“The phrase is used after the birth of a child as a means of praising God.. It is also part Islamic funeral and burial customs.”
News
(Canadian) Doctors say Israel is wiping out a generation of kids in Gaza
“This is not war on Hamas. This is war on the children of Gaza.
“You drop a 2,000-pound dumb bomb, a weapon of mass destruction, in an area, you’re gonna kill a lot of kids, a lot of women and a lot of civilians.”
“The children break your heart because if they are not wounded, they’re hungry and thirsty.”
Israeli writer laments the Israeli army’s killing of children in Gaza (30 January, 2024)
“I’m losing the desire to belong to a country that kills 11,000 children,” a well-known Israeli playwright and screenwriter, Motti Lerner, told a crowd at a literary event in Israel. He went on to compare the actions of key figures in Nazi Germany who killed thousands of children, to those of the Israeli army, which has killed more than 10,000 children in Gaza.”
Middle East Eye – 20 January, 2024
Palestinian girl shot by Israeli forces dies in Gaza city ambush: Red Crescent
“Layan Hamadeh contacted the agency for help, while the car they were travelling in was surrounded by Israeli forces. Layan died while her little sister Hind remained trapped inside the vehicle while it was targeted in Gaza city.”
Children orphaned by Israel’s war on Gaza talk about trauma | Al Jazeera Newsfeed
“Many children at the Al Bureij camp have seen family members buried in the same place they’ve been forced to take shelter in.”
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