Gaza Fights For Freedom (2019) Movie Script
The situation here in Gaza is horrible.
The siege destroyed and humiliated us.
We appear to be alive, but we are not.
We are buried alive under the siege.
Gaza is no longer Gaza.
Gaza is absolutely destroyed.
Gaza is just a name. It's the name of his skeleton.
It is not possible to find happy and cheerful people here.
The Palestinian people live in harsh conditions.
Israel's pressure is tearing him apart. The deaths are tearing him apart.
Wherever you look, you see suffering.
I feel like I'm suffocating with rage.
Normal people sleep. My thoughts keep me awake.
Sometimes, out of anger, I break things at home.
The occupation tore us apart. The siege tore us apart.
Homes are torn apart. Families are torn apart.
Our people don't live.
And that. The siege humiliated us.
He didn't spare a single soul.
The situation of most families goes from bad to worse.
This is the furthest you can get from Gaza.
Put your feet in the water, on the sands of its coast...
It's the outermost border you can touch
without permission from the Israeli military.
Most will never be allowed to leave.
Trapped in this place,
which is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world,
there is much more than misery.
One finds happiness, love and joy.
But Gaza is not defined by how it deals with oppression,
if not for their fight for freedom.
GAZA'S FIGHTS FOR FREEDOM
Gaza finds itself at the center of an international controversy,
as in the past, because civilians are being killed in large numbers,
by an army claiming self-defense.
This chapter takes place in the Great March of Return,
which began on March 30, 2018.
In these great marches,
hundreds of people were killed, thousands injured,
but they continued, every Friday, despite such a chance of death.
Despite occasionally making headlines,
What is rarely explored is why so many would risk their own skin
in an act of civil disobedience.
The Gaza Strip is approximately just 40 km long by 5 km wide.
Two million Palestinians live packed into this small space,
one of the most densely populated places in the world.
Half are children.
Many live in refugee camps spread across the besieged territory.
The proportion dependent on external aid reaches a staggering 80%.
Call with precision from open air prison,
There are only two ways to leave the fenced area:
the Erez Pass, into Israeli territory,
and the Rafah Pass, which leads to Egypt.
Both are completely controlled by hostile militaries.
What Israel calls "border"
is actually a heavily militarized perimeter fence
made of barbed wire, closed circuit TV
and even lethal exclusion zones.
If you walk too close to the so-called exclusion zone,
which extends 300 meters beyond the fence,
Israeli forces are authorized to shoot to kill.
Thousands of unarmed Palestinians have been shot for violating this rule,
counting only the year 2018.
The same applies to the Gaza coast.
It is the only place in the world from which you cannot escape even by boat.
as refugees elsewhere often do.
Fishermen are restricted to just a few nautical miles from its shores.
Going further, even by accident,
you can be annihilated by Israeli warships.
A huge breakwater in the north and south, currently being expanded,
confines them within their little patch of sea.
This violence is aggravated by an economic blockade
which imposes a stranglehold of poverty on Gaza,
resulting in one of the highest unemployment rates in the world,
according to the World Bank.
70% of young people are unemployed,
and 52% of the general population.
Like Emad Fraij Soboh, who lives in Bait Lahia,
a small town in the north of the Gaza Strip.
He was a farmer until the Israeli blockade
break most agricultural enterprises.
He was shot in the leg at the Great March of Return protests.
Now, unemployed, he resorts to one of his only sources of income:
sift through the debris of Israeli bombings.
We cannot educate our children, we cannot come, we cannot go.
The economy here has collapsed.
I collect plastic, metal, stones.
In a day, I get 20 shekels, 15 shekels, 30 shekels.
It's simply not enough.
There are no jobs, the situation is horrible.
It's very difficult to turn around.
This is my daughter, she has hearing problems.
I took her to many doctors. They say he needs tubes in his ears.
I can't pay for your treatment.
See, I have a family of 16 people and we all live in two rooms.
Our roof is terrible, full of holes.
In winter, people are comfortable and safe, but not me.
I have to put a bucket here, another there, another there...
I do not sleep.
If you open my fridge, you won't find anything.
I live on dry goods,
of pepper, cucumber, spices, ztar, olive, tea.
As you see, my wife and I burned nylon and paper
for cooking and preparing tea.
I don't have money to buy a gas cylinder,
It costs 70 shekels.
I can't buy enough milk,
so sometimes I give him bread dipped in tea.
How is this life?
This food insecurity is an intentional effect of the lockdown.
In fact, Israeli officials determine the amount of food
which they will let into Gaza per day,
based on the calculation of the minimum calorie intake
necessary to avoid malnutrition.
Officials call this putting Gaza on a diet.
Food shortages are just one problem.
More dangerous is the shortage of drinking water.
There is not enough water.
I only have one water tank for 16 people.
I fill gallons to overcome the shortage. I don't have enough.
It is not always available.
Sometimes we drink the municipal one, salty and untreated.
Not suitable for cooking.
From now on, it is unfit for any human being to live,
Even the UN reports that the lack of water alone
will have made the Gaza Strip completely uninhabitable by 2020.
97% of fresh water in Gaza is toxic.
The vast majority of Gaza's desalination plants,
that produce fresh water,
were destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombs
and cannot operate.
Repairing them requires importing materials prohibited by the blockade.
More than 25% of all diseases in Gaza
are directly caused by contaminated water.
This fact alone leads to a calamitous situation,
but the almost total lack of electricity
makes quality of life impossible.
Electricity cuts are killing us.
Water cannot be pumped to the tanks on the roof without electricity.
We suffer from a lack of electricity. I swear to God we suffered.
Most of the day there is no electricity.
There is electricity 4 hours a day, the rest of the day there is no.
16 or 20 hours a day without.
We can't freeze water
nor preserve food like normal people.
Most food spoils due to power cuts.
Electricity is as important as the air we breathe.
We are afraid, it is very dangerous.
One of the children may burn their clothes or the house.
I have many ambitions in life.
I would like to have an income to send my sons and daughters to school
and give them the best life.
I hope someday I can feel joy.
But instead, my life just gets worse every day.
What can we do?
The siege destroyed Gaza.
The siege destroyed us.
This common story is why so many want to leave Gaza,
but they are trapped.
Even when it's a matter of life and death,
they are sentenced to a slow and painful end.
To leave the Gaza Strip,
you must obtain permission from the Israeli authorities.
They are rarely approved, even for vital medical treatments.
The effect is clear when comparing the cancer survival rate
with that of the neighboring population:
If you are diagnosed with breast cancer in Israel,
you have an 86% chance of surviving.
In Gaza, the survival rate plummets to just 30%.
Year after year, Israel tightens the noose.
In 2012, 93% of travel permits for medical reasons were granted.
In 2014, the number fell to 82%.
In 2016, the number decreased even further.
The following year, it fell to the lowest point ever recorded, 54%.
This is the most basic right for a human being:
live and move freely.
But the Israeli siege that motivates the protests
it is also used to punish participants.
MOHAMMED AL-SHA'RAWI, BAIT LAHIA MUNICIPALITY
Freedom is something that lives in your heart,
something everyone wants to feel.
We love our land, we fight to defend what is dear to us.
I was injured on May 4th.
I went to the march with some friends.
I was with the people and I was shot in the foot.
My bones were fractured.
I suffered torn ligaments and nerve damage.
The hospital discharged me
and they told me that they would refer me to receive treatment outside,
and if I couldn't get treatment outside,
would have to undergo an amputation.
I was rejected the first time they submitted my name.
They sent it again and I was rejected again.
I was rejected twice.
I'm still looking for someone to help me cross.
Every day that passes, they have to cut a little bit of my bone.
It's already 5 cm shorter.
Countless people injured in protests have been denied essential medical permission
for Israel,
based on family connections to Hamas,
the elected leadership in Gaza.
Another form of collective punishment.
Mohammed cannot travel to save his leg from amputation,
because Israel treats all Palestinians with the presumption that they are terrorists,
painting himself as the real victim.
Gaza has a history.
If you look at the mass media,
the story you find is that they launched hundreds of rockets
against Israeli cities across the border.
Everything before this point is left out.
Most commonly, we hear about rockets hitting the border town of Sderot.
This is where the notorious "Sderot Cinema" is located,
where settlers drink beer and eat popcorn
as they watch bombs fall on Gaza.
Sderot was once called Huj,
a village that was 100% Palestinian and Muslim.
Israeli historian Benny Morris revealed
that the Palestinian inhabitants not only coexisted well with the Jewish settlers,
but in fact they hid and protected us
of the British occupation forces in 1946.
When a British Army raid
was detaining members of the Jewish paramilitary organization,
the Palestinians of Huj kept them safe.
It was a shock to them that, just about a year later,
the same paramilitaries violently expelled all the residents of Huj.
Everyone fled to Gaza.
Huj was renamed Sderot,
and settlers from all over the world began moving there.
This is the familiar story of almost all current Gazans,
Approximately 75% of people living there
they are refugees from villages just beyond its borders.
They were among the 500 Arab villages
completely depopulated by bullets in 1948,
in what became known as the Nakba.
Those who did not leave their homes were killed.
That year, the UN adopted Resolution 194,
which stated that all 750 thousand Palestinians
made refugees by the Nakba
they had the right to return to the land from which they were ethnically cleansed.
From that day forward, Israel rejected her,
in flagrant violation of international law.
The removal of the indigenous population was always the plan,
as founder and first Prime Minister Ben Gurion declared:
"We must expel the Arabs and take their homes."
Just 6 months after the creation of Israel,
Top-secret military orders reveal their politics
targeting movements of Arab civilians from Gaza.
Its mission, stated clearly:
expulsion of Arab inhabitants
and denial of their return by demolishing their homes.
Round up all residents and deport them to Gaza.
Burn the villages.
And more shocking:
raise the paths along which refugees move
and install mines on these routes.
And, in 1954, the Infiltration Prevention Law was created,
to punish any refugee who attempted to return,
establishing a shoot-to-kill policy,
like the one that is still used today
against the protesters of the Great March of Return.
UN ASSISTANCE AGENCY
TO PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST | 1949
A VIDEO REPORT ON THE PROBLEM OF ARAB REFUGEES
These are the citizens of tomorrow
who urgently need help to live today.
It's the age-old question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The answer is yes!"
You and anyone who becomes aware of a great tragedy
must take responsibility for closing it.
This is a problem that begs the civilized world
a quick, humanitarian and permanent solution.
But the story doesn't end there.
In a gigantic military offensive in 1967,
they took over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
and placed them under martial law.
The prime minister at the time, Levi Eshkol,
was very open about his plan to depopulate Gaza.
A tactic he proposed to make its inhabitants flee
is still used today.
He said, Maybe if we dont give them enough water, they wont have a choice;
"because the orchards will turn yellow and dry up."
In another field,
a well that normally provided water for 2,000 people
It quickly dried up after being used by 13,000 or more.
Some Palestinian refugees have been living in refugee camps for 30 years,
raised their children,
and these, in turn, also raised their own children there.
Three generations of refugees.
It barely seems possible.
From then until 2005,
Israel has established 21 large settlements,
covering 20% of the territory of Gaza.
Just as the West Bank quickly disappeared
As settlements grew, so did Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza lived under an illegal military occupation
and were subject to dozens of military control points,
Jewish-only roads and other forms of violence.
Under military control,
all political activity is considered illegal,
including participating in peaceful protests,
distributing leaflets and even raising a Palestinian flag.
Palestinians were routinely evacuated from their homes
and forced to watch them be demolished,
as the military cleared the way for new settlements.
Inevitably, huge uprisings of the entire Palestinian population broke out,
what became known as the First and Second Intifada.
Whether the tactics used were violent or non-violent,
they were crushed with maximum cruelty and brutality.
It was here that the largely symbolic act of throwing stones
was widely adopted as an act of resistance,
a suitable weapon for a David versus Goliath story.
Although Israel publicly maintains its desire for peace,
their actions say otherwise.
Militant resistance forced Israeli occupation
to leave Gaza in 2005, while cementing
a permanent military occupation of the West Bank.
Angry extremist settlers, determined to take Gaza,
they had to be physically removed by the Israeli military.
But this movement was never meant to be permanent.
The desire for a Greater Israel, swallowing Gaza whole and beyond,
It's no secret.
The following year, Gaza held its first democratic elections.
Hamas won.
MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR, CO-FOUNDER OF HAMAS We are not promoting terrorism
or violence.
We are under occupation,
the Israelis continue their aggression against our people...
murders, arrests, demolitions...
and to stop these processes,
we carry out effective self-defense by all means,
including the use of weapons.
A diplomatic message published by Wikileaks
reveals the truth behind Israel's rhetoric about Hamas.
After losing the elections,
the rival Fatah party requested that Israel come to its aid
with weapons and military attacks
to prevent Hamas from taking control of the Gaza Strip.
As stated in the messages,
the head of Israeli intelligence told the US ambassador
that they wanted Hamas to take full control in Gaza,
telling him that if Hamas managed to take full control,
Israel's military could classify Gaza
like hostile territory.
As a result, Fatah fled,
and Israel immediately appointed every man,
woman and child in Gaza as "hostile",
and therefore, a legitimate target.
With this excuse, that all of Gaza is a hostile entity,
they implemented the devastating lockdown
and began a regular series of bombings
who took death and destruction to a new level.
This last decade is defined by routine massacres
of the caged population of Gaza,
always portrayed by Israeli officials as self-defense.
With practically zero deaths
on the Israeli side of these so-called "wars",
thousands of civilians in Gaza perished under its bombs
in 2008, 2012, and in the worst of these massacres, in 2014.
In those 2 months, Israeli bombs killed 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza,
the vast majority non-combatants.
A terrifying total of 500 children.
But this most recent aerial massacre took much more than lives.
Around 178 thousand homes were completely destroyed
or left in need of severe repairs.
Worse still, they cannot be rebuilt.
Israeli blockade prohibits entry
of any construction materials in Gaza.
This is why Gaza is still in rubble,
as if the war had ended yesterday.
Bombings continue regularly.
Typically, they follow the same script:
Israel violates a ceasefire agreement,
Gaza responds with rockets,
and Israel launches an absolutely disproportionate attack,
with mass media proclaiming an upside-down reality.
In the beginning, Israel justified its crimes
as defense against infiltrators,
then against terrorists, and today the excuse is Hamas.
But what does Hamas really stand for?
Hamas today, in its official statute,
says it accepts the two-state solution promoted by the international community.
Exactly what we are told is the path to peace.
declare that
"Hamas considers establishing a Palestinian state"
"completely sovereign and independent,"
"on lines prior to the 1967 military occupation,"
"as a national consensus formula."
Hamas statute rejects anti-Semitism
and the confusion of Judaism with political Zionism,
equal standing with progressive Jewish organizations around the world.
In contrast,
all parties in the coalition that governs Israel
officially oppose the creation of such a state
and openly promise to annex the West Bank.
But they always flip the narrative,
reducing the entire population of Gaza to a caricature of Hamas.
In reality, there is a mosaic of political trends.
Some are more conservative than Hamas,
many support rival Fatah,
while others are in left-wing parties,
such as the communist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
This political diversity is reflected in the Long March.
The official steering committee is made up of representatives from various parties.
It is run mainly by independent academics, artists and journalists.
In fact, the idea of a big march was dreamed up by just one Palestinian,
the 34-year-old journalist and poet Ahmed Abu Artema,
when he saw birds flying freely to the land that was forbidden to him.
It all started with a post on the internet:
"What would happen if thousands of Gazans"
"try to peacefully cross the fence that separates them"
"from your ancestral lands?"
"I SAW THE BIRDS FLY OVER THE FENCES... WITHOUT BEING STOPPED BY ANYONE."
"THE BIRDS DECIDE TO FLY AND THEY FLY"
"I DISCOVERED THE TRUE REASON TO ABOMINATE OCCUPATION..."
I HATE IT BECAUSE IT CONTRADICTS THE LAW OF NATURE.
"BORD ME FROM BEING A BIRD THAT FLIES."
AHMED ABU ARTEMA, ORGANIZER OF THE GREAT MARCH OF RETURN
Gaza is suffering an intolerable humanitarian crisis that cannot continue.
The economy collapsed, the social infrastructure collapsed.
There are no salaries, no jobs, no future, and the borders are closed.
These reasons led to the creation and mobilization of the Great March of Return.
Especially with Trump's recognition of Jerusalem
as the capital of the invaders
and the fear of Palestinians that the situation of refugees would be forgotten,
which is our most sacred cause.
There are approximately 10 million Palestinian refugees
protected by UN Resolution 194.
Article 11 guarantees the right of these refugees
to return to their homes,
of which they were forcibly evicted in 1948.
Protesters at the March of Return support this demand.
We want to return to our homes.
After all, we cannot trust the morality of the colonial occupation of Palestine.
Instead, we are committed to creating pressure
and mobilization around the world for our just cause,
until we reach that historic moment that other peoples of the world have reached,
when they achieved their freedom, independence and self-determination.
Yes, looking at it from a historical and ethical angle,
the occupation carries its own downfall,
because it is based on colonization and segregation.
It's based on murder
and discrimination against other people.
The occupation tries to erase these people.
So we find strength in our rights.
We will continue our fight even though we know we are weaker.
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES The Israel Defense Forces will do everything to protect its civilians from the massacre
that Hamas is planning.
MONDAY, MAY 14, THE HAMAS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
PLANS TO SEND ARMED TERRORISTS AMONG THE 250,000 VIOLENT RIOTS
TO GROUP AND BREAK ISRAEL'S BORDER WITH GAZA
AND ENTER ISRAELIAN COMMUNITIES.
THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES WILL NOT ALLOW THEM.
WHAT YOU BRING TO A PROTEST/WHAT HAMAS TAKES TO ITS VIOLENT RIOTS This was the narrative that reached the mass media.
The real organizers of the March were ignored.
Because Ahmed clearly explained that it was a symbolic action:
camping in tents and staging a protest occupation
in the empty lands close to the border,
to draw attention to their struggle as refugees.
This was the real threat to Israel:
a political victory for the Palestinian cause.
So they resorted to the usual detour:
that everything is just a front for Hamas to destroy Israel.
Today, in a new political context, of accelerated colonization.
Therefore, I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem
as the capital of Israel.
Hamas calls for more bloodshed today on the Israel/Gaza border.
Thousands of Palestinians are expected to rise up...
Calling this a protest is not correct.
What actually happened was that Hamas planned an event
in which they wanted thousands of people to invade Israel...
Palestinians allegedly organized by the terrorist group Hamas
are being encouraged to rush over security barriers,
putting yourself in the line of fire...
They were warned to stay away from the border fence
and decided to show up with explosives...
They are paying them to take shots, believe it or not.
They're paying them something like $500 per bullet wound.
Do you know that Hamas sent a 7 year old girl,
who was wearing a Minnie Mouse sweatshirt, stood near the fence,
so that the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces...
in the perverse mentality of Hamas... shoot her and kill her?
It was reported that a person in a wheelchair
received a fatal shot, sir. ambassador.
Hamas is always very good at spreading all kinds of propaganda.
They are experts at this.
And they intentionally changed the day
to coincide with the opening of the embassy,
so that we would all be disgusted and heartbroken
when you see this horrible split screen
of Ivanka Trump, looking like she was at a Country Club,
alongside poor desperate people dying in Gaza.
I agree with you, they totally planned this.
And I'm just saying don't fall into the trap
assembled by a theocratic and authoritarian group
who is sending women and children to serve as human shields.
I couldn't agree more with all of this.
I think it's terrible that Hamas is murdering its own children.
Hamas is conducting a massive self-genocide.
They want as big a pile of dead civilians as they can get,
because someone said that... this is horrendous...
that they use compelling videos of dead Palestinians for their cause.
For them, the more dead, the better.
They're pushing civilians... women, children...
into the line of fire, with the intention of obtaining victims.
We try to minimize the number of victims,
they try to have more victims
to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible.
What are they doing deliberately
is to seek to kill as many Palestinians as possible
to shout to the world: "Help us!"
Much of the world is condemning us for war crimes.
Basically, they are serving the purposes of Hamas.
This is precisely what Hamas is about.
Make no mistake, Hamas is satisfied with yesterday's results.
No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.
And that said, Israel only targeted people
who actively took part in acts of violence.
We only use lethal ammunition in a measured and surgical manner.
Why did Israeli forces
They were shooting to kill protesters
at the Gaza crossings?
Well, we can't put all these people in jail.
I came to liberate Palestine,
so that all of Palestine can be united.
To free Palestine from unjust occupation.
My great hope is that Palestine will be liberated
so we can live in peace.
Our march is peaceful.
All Palestinians participated.
I have the right to have a country. I have the right to have a home.
All these refugees have the right to return to their homes.
We will never leave, we will remain here!
In the past, present and future!
Here, from the camps of the Long March, from Gaza,
we say it's Palestinian women...
She represents all Palestinians...
She left her lands against her will...
When an ant defeats an elephant
When a turtle outruns a horse
When the sun rises at night
Then we will give up on Arab Jerusalem!
Here today are your granddaughters,
declaring that we were forcibly expelled!
We are here now with all our strength.
They are Palestinian women
who are here now with the strong conviction
that we will never renounce our right to return!
Not com balas, not com gs
Let the world hear you
The women of Gaza will not kneel!
Millions of martyrs marching to the border!
Millions of martyrs marching to the border!
Millions of martyrs marching to the border!
It's a peaceful march. What will they do to us?
We don't carry weapons, we go there completely exposed.
We are facing a great force, a fortified army,
with tanks, gas, planes.
We are peaceful, we are unprotected and unarmed.
Why are you here?
I'm Palestinian, I have to be here.
Be careful with the head!
We must resist!
Let's resist!
We do not fear the bullets of the occupation.
These bullets fired into our daughters' chests,
children, women, fathers and mothers do not scare us,
We will not surrender!
Evidence of numerous and patent war crimes
in these frequent massacres they are in plain sight.
But let's just look at what the UN discovered in its investigation.
Facts that cannot be refuted.
The UN report published on February 28, 2019
documents the extent of human rights violations
during the Great March of Return in 2018.
Of the 183 deaths caused by sniper fire
investigated by the UN commission,
171 were clearly murders, with shots to the head or torso.
Almost 8 thousand people were injured by lethal ammunition.
Over that 8-month period, 21 were permanently paralyzed,
and another 122 required limb amputation,
included 20 children.
In stark contrast, the UN report found zero deaths on the Israeli side.
Not a single Israeli soldier was killed or seriously injured.
Four claimed to have suffered scratches from thrown stones,
and could only cite property damage
provoked by kites and balloons as motivation to continue the massacre.
Throwing rocks carries a death sentence.
You can see that Hesham Fayez Abu Okel poses no threat
to the lives of Israelis,
he is not armed and is not crossing the border fence.
When the shot is heard, he is the one who is hit in the head.
Incidents like this that were investigated by the UN
constitute patent violations.
On March 30, the first day of the Great March of Return,
Israeli snipers began deploying lethal ammunition at 9 am.
Along the day,
the Israel Defense Forces shot and killed 18 unarmed protesters,
and injured another 765 with lethal ammunition.
Among the victims of the first day,
Bader Sabagh, 19, was resting,
smoking a cigarette 300 meters away,
when he was killed with a shot to the head.
Mechanic Naji Abu Johayeer, 24,
was standing wrapped in a Palestinian flag
300 meters from the fence when he was shot in the abdomen.
The youngest victim was a 2-year-old child;
the oldest, a 71-year-old woman.
Six weeks later, on May 14,
in one of the most heinous massacres of unarmed people in modern history,
Israeli snipers killed 60 people that day alone,
including 7 children.
The number of victims could have been much higher,
considering the fact that they shot and injured
another 1,162 people with lethal ammunition.
Just a sample of these victims already demonstrates the barbarity.
21-year-old university student Ali Khafajah
was using a cell phone about 150 meters away when he was shot in the head.
Mahmoud Jundya, 20 years old,
was filming the protest 50 meters from the fence when he was shot.
As he agonized on the floor,
an Israeli sniper shot him in the back.
An international war correspondent
interviewed for the UN report narrated the scene:
"Every few minutes you would hear a gunshot,"
"and saw someone fall,"
"and then one more... It went on for hours."
"There was a constant stream of bloodied bodies"
"being loaded into the ambulances."
It was surreal and never-ending.
"I covered wars in Syria, Yemen, Libya..."
"I've never seen anything like it."
"The slow, methodical shots."
"It was just shocking."
Let us simply imagine for a moment
that armed militants on the Long March were shooting back
against Israeli soldiers during the protest,
which would actually be protected as legitimate resistance
by international law.
1978 UN General Assembly Resolution:
"Reaffirms the legitimacy of the people's struggle for independence,"
"territorial integrity, national unity"
"and liberation from colonial and foreign domination"
"and from foreign occupation by all available means,"
"particularly the armed struggle"
Even if there was an armed struggle,
all documented actions of the Israeli military
against children, disabled people, the press and health professionals
would still be considered absolutely illegal war crimes.
But the fact that there were no armed militants,
that there was no use of weapons against soldiers,
that there was no "battle", as they say,
makes his crimes even more atrocious and undeniable.
In fact, the official Twitter account of the Israel Defense Forces
publicly admitted that none of those who were shot were done by accident.
According to officials: "Nothing was done without control;"
"everything was precise and measured, and we know where each bullet arrived."
Even more incriminating, Israeli General Zvika Fogel
described how snipers identified
and obtained authorization to shoot children.
I know how these orders are given, I know how a sniper shoots,
I know how many authorizations he needs
before receiving permission to open fire.
It's not about the whim of one sniper or another
who identifies the small body of a child and decides to shoot.
Someone marks your target very well, tells you exactly why you need to shoot
and what threat does that individual represent...
Is your penalty death?
Yes, your penalty is death, according to my criteria.
If you can shoot just to stop him, in the leg or arm, great,
but if it goes beyond that, yes.
Do you want to check with me which blood is thicker,
ours or theirs?
I was holding a Palestinian flag when I was shot in the head.
HAYTHEM AL-GHANDOUR, CAMPO DE REFUGIADOS DE AL-SHATI
On April 16th, I was shot in the knee.
My right leg was hit by a gas bomb.
I went home from the hospital and got better.
The following Friday, we returned to the March.
After we arrived, I took a shot that went through my left leg.
On May 8th, I went with the boys to the Malaka refugee camp.
I was just raising the Palestinian flag, like the others.
He was demanding the right to return, like the others.
It was at that moment that they shot me in the head.
The bullet went in and out of my head.
I received 55 stitches inside and outside my head.
A few days later, I underwent another surgery to remove the shrapnel.
Their goal is to kill young people in Gaza.
They want to destroy your future
so that they cannot defend their land or approach the separation fence.
If young people fall,
there will be no one left to defend Palestine.
In addition to these broadly defined war crimes,
there are specific groups protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Again,
these are protected groups in the event of a real war between armies,
turning violations against unarmed protesters
even more hateful.
CHILDREN
Children are an internationally protected group
by article 77 [Additional Protocol I] of the Fourth Geneva Convention,
which determines that "they are subject to special respect"
"and protected from any type of attack."
- Are you in sight? - Yes yes.
Stopped.
I can't shoot because of the barbed wire.
- Come come come! - There's a small child there.
Shoot.
But he's been dodging all the time!
- Eliminate the pink one. - The pink one, no, I have the blue one.
Wow, what a video! "Yes!"
- That son of a bitch! - Did you film it?
Which video! They're rushing to evacuate him. Of course I filmed it!
Wow! Shoot him in the head!
Record this.
What a legendary video!
- What? I have not seen. - He flew and his leg did like this...
Sons of bitches!
May 14th. Wisal Sheikh-Khalil, 14,
was shot in the head from a distance of 100 meters,
after approaching the fence to hang a Palestinian flag.
He died immediately.
June 29th. Yasser Abu Naja, 11 years old,
he chanted nationalist slogans next to the fence, with two other children.
He was shot in the head while hiding behind a dumpster,
200 meters from the fence.
September 28th. Nasser Mosabeh, aged 11,
he was shot in the back of the head, standing 250 meters from the fence.
He died on the same day.
Throughout the March, in 2018,
35 children were murdered by Israeli snipers.
940 children were shot by Israeli snipers,
many of them left with permanent disabilities.
The UN Commission concludes that Israeli forces
intentionally shot children,
knowing they were children.
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
People with disabilities also have the right to special protection
under international law.
Article 11 of the UN Convention
on the Rights of People with Disabilities:
establishes that all necessary measures must be taken
to ensure the protection and safety of people with disabilities
in situations of armed conflict.
The UN Commission cites several emblematic cases
in which civilians with disabilities were made direct targets
during the 2018 Marches.
Both legs of 29-year-old Fadi Abu Salmi
were amputated after an Israeli airstrike in 2008.
On May 14th,
Israeli snipers shot him in the chest
while sitting in his wheelchair,
300 meters from the fence.
He died instantly.
Ahmad Abu Aqel, 24 years old, walked with the aid of crutches,
due to being injured by Israeli forces
during a demonstration in 2017.
On April 20th,
Israeli forces shot him in the back of the head
while sitting on a mound, 150 meters from the fence.
He died that day.
The Commission confirmed
that snipers intentionally shot these protesters,
despite seeing that they had obvious deficiencies.
JOURNALISTS
ABDULLAH AL-SHORBAIJI, JORNALIST
As journalists, we went to cover the March,
the peaceful demonstration near the fence that separates us from the occupied lands,
to convey the peaceful message of the Palestinian people to the world.
We wanted to cover how protesters were targeted
by the occupying forces.
We wanted to show the true face of the occupation.
There is no doubt that the Palestinian people are targets
and that protesters near the fence were targets.
The Israeli occupation does not distinguish between children and adults.
It does not distinguish between journalists, civilians or paramedics.
As journalists, we were directly targeted,
and we, the family of Gaza journalists, lost two martyrs:
our fellow journalists Yasser Mourtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein.
And many journalists were injured too.
Journalists were direct targets, even when wearing identification vests.
When I was hurt,
wore a press identification vest,
to indicate that I am a journalist.
And despite that, they shot me.
Israeli soldiers shot me in the abdomen
with an expanding bullet.
COMERCIAL DA BALA EXPANSIVA "R.I.P."
Since the invention of the revolver and pistol cartridge,
ammunition manufacturers have sought to maximize
the lethal potential of its projectiles.
This projectile is the Radically Invasive Projectile,
the last bullet you'll ever need.
This bullet was removed from my foot.
This bullet explodes into 6 pieces.
Thank God it didn't completely explode.
Some fragments remained on my foot.
We were shot with these internationally banned bullets.
It explodes and its fragments disperse inside the body,
causing lacerations and very serious problems in the future.
Designed to maximize power dissipation where it's needed
and overcome any major obstacle in your path,
there's really nothing like it.
As the material fills the hollow center,
the projectile starts to work like a hole saw,
effectively cutting through obstacles,
such as plywood, car glass,
plasterboard, concrete blocks,
metal plates and multiple layers of denim.
Expanding bullets are strictly prohibited,
under any circumstances, by the 1899 Hague Convention.
In addition to the abundant evidence for the use of expanding bullets,
they employed another type of illegal ammunition:
an unidentified toxic gas.
The term "tear gas" in the Great March of Return is misleading.
- Where's the ambulance? - A stretcher, guys! Quickly!
This gas causes loss of consciousness, convulsions, and is lethal.
The use of lethal gas against soldiers or civilians
is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
- Expose your face to the open air! - Free air here?
Making journalists a direct target is terrifying and dangerous.
It led to many journalists dying.
However, that didn't stop us.
There is a commitment between journalists who have been injured,
to return to cover the demonstrations when they recover from their injuries.
This is what journalism is all about, it is the profession of difficulties.
When journalists get hurt,
they must get up again and return to the field.
This is the profession of difficulties, this is journalism.
Journalists are an internationally protected group, just like civilians,
in accordance with article 79 [Additional Protocol I] of the Geneva Conventions.
In accordance with Protocol I, article 79,
targeting journalists is an atrocious war crime,
regardless of their political affiliation.
During the Long March in 2018,
Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed two journalists
with press identification,
and injured 39 others who were covering the demonstrations.
The whole world can see how they target journalists.
The international community and press organizations,
who claim to defend human rights and democracy,
must ensure the rights of Palestinian journalists
to carry out their legitimate work.
Journalists are a target
so that they cannot communicate the truth about the occupation.
They do not pose any risk to the Israeli occupation or its soldiers,
who are armed with the newest and heaviest weapons.
Journalists pose no threat with their cameras,
cell phones or equipment.
However, the real threat they pose is that they will expose the truth.
They don't want Palestinian journalists to expose the truth.
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
MOHAMMED MEQDAD, PARAMEDIC
The first seven weeks were normal.
We were not targeted.
We were only gassed on a smaller scale.
This is until May 14th.
The atmosphere had been strange since the beginning of the day.
Before dividing tasks,
surprisingly, they shot our boss close to the leg.
We were shocked that they did this, it was the first time.
Moments later, conflicts began to emerge.
They shot at us.
Some were injured by shrapnel.
I was working normally,
until my colleague was murdered.
Musa Abu Hassanin Abu Zeid, may his soul rest in peace.
About half an hour after his martyrdom,
I had taken the last injured person to the ambulance...
I was only 20 or 30 meters away from the ambulance when they shot me.
I was shot with an expanding bullet.
Thank God I was wearing tall boots.
The bullet hit my boot and exploded before penetrating my leg.
If it had exploded inside, my leg would have been amputated.
After exploding,
It made a hole inside my leg and broke two bones.
They told me a bone is lost,
cannot be treated.
I have three holes in my leg.
You can see the ligaments.
I underwent four surgeries and next week I will undergo the fifth.
Occupied Palestine is one of the most dangerous places in the world
to work as a healthcare professional.
According to art. 15 of the Geneva Conventions [Additional Protocol I],
Targeting medical personnel is a serious violation of international law.
Determines that health professionals must receive protection
to carry out its humanitarian functions.
In fact, Israel's own Manual on the Laws of War
written in 1998, it establishes:
"Interfering with the provision of medical care is prohibited."
During the 2018 protests,
Israeli forces shot and killed three clearly identified paramedics.
They try to weaken the protesters
so that they are scared that there are no paramedics there to treat them.
As a protester,
if I see paramedics being shot at, journalists being shot at,
I would say, "Why not me too?"
"If they shoot paramedics and journalists, what will they do to me?"
"They're going to kill me."
I would feel scared, or think that no paramedic would come to rescue me.
So how does Israel justify shooting healthcare workers?
In the eyes of Hamas,
the inhabitants of Gaza are not human beings;
they are nothing more than human shields.
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
No, all types of people participate.
If you want proof, look at the injured people.
You will see women, old people, young people, children.
These are the people who participate.
You will find the answer when you look at the hurting people.
You will know if they are Hamas or not.
Hamas has nothing to do with this.
Everyone goes there to defend their rights.
Neither Hamas nor any other party has anything to do with this.
The March of Return is about taking back our occupied lands.
That's why no party has anything to do with this march.
The March of Return is for all the people.
Israel sees itself as a great country, which is above the law.
He is never held accountable for his crimes.
For example,
if an Israeli soldier or civilian is killed by a rocket or run over,
the entire Western world is turned upside down.
Here, our children, young people, women, die in thousands, not dozens.
No one holds them accountable or seeks the truth.
Our rights are not respected. There is no accountability.
Being a first responder is not just a job for men.
RAZAN AL-NAJJAR, VOLUNTEER RESCUER We have one goal: to save lives and evacuate people.
RAZAN AL-NAJJAR, VOLUNTEER RESCUER And send a message to the world: without weapons, we can do anything.
If they don't want to accept us willingly, they will be forced to accept it.
Because we have more strength than any man.
The strength I showed as a first responder on the first day of the protests,
I challenge you to find it in anyone else.
MURDERED ON JUNE 1, 2018.
SABREEN AL-NAJJAR, ME DE RAZAN AL-NAJJAR
Razan was the first girl to volunteer to go into the field,
the first to go to the March camps.
That participation was his first,
because this march was a peaceful action.
And everyone participated. The whole family and I participated.
RAI'AN ASHRAF AL-NAJJAR, IRM DE RAZAN AL-NAJJAR
All my memories of Razan are very sweet.
She was a kind girl.
She didn't ask for much, but her ambitions were big.
She dreamed of studying nursing
and he committed himself to doing so, no matter what.
Despite facing many difficulties and obstacles,
she insisted on continuing with her work.
ASHRAF AL-NAJJAR, PAI DE RAZAN AL-NAJJAR
His message was clear:
help the injured...
It was a humanitarian mission.
And she was proud of her work.
Because he was helping the injured and doing good for his people.
She demonstrated her ability from day one.
He treated the injuries with great patience.
Some criticized her
for being the first female health professional at the March.
She didn't let that stop her and did her job anyway.
Every night, she used to tell me everything that had happened to her.
She would talk to me or our mother about the difficulties she faced,
about the number of injuries that day, whether it was high, whether she was exhausted...
She told me everything, she didn't hide anything from me.
We didn't see her at home except at night.
She could barely wash her clothes, and sometimes, she couldn't eat.
She would come home to sleep and return the next day,
until the day he died.
Every day, he told us what he had seen, who had been injured.
The person she really felt sad and cried for
it was Abu Sabla, the deaf martyr.
She was standing next to him.
When they shot him, he fell into her arms and she held him.
His brain fell completely out of his head and into her hands.
She ran to the ambulance with parts of his brain in her hands.
He was shot and fell into her arms.
This was one of the most difficult situations he went through.
She told us many more stories.
Every day she told us what had happened,
the injuries, the new types of gas...
She said that although she was sad about what she saw,
he was very happy to care for the injured and alleviate their pain.
She used to come home happy when she had saved many lives.
When the injuries she treated were not fatal, she was very happy.
Today I saved this one and that one, and she listed the names.
"They are now stable."
She reassured me and herself.
She took comfort in that.
RAMI ABU JAZAR, PARAMEDIC AT THE PALESTINE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY
June 1st was a different day than the rest.
That day, Razan came to me
and I think she was different.
As soon as the team arrived,
she said she would love to take a picture with everyone.
She took some photos with me
and said he wanted to publish them on social media.
But I asked him not to publish them,
because we were working.
She said "No, I'm going to publish them whether you like it or not!"
I didn't expect Razan to be martyred
and the photos disseminated the circumstances of his death.
After that,
told me that he missed his colleague Rasha
and that I would like to see her.
She asked me to drive and pick up Rasha so she could see her.
RASHA QUDAIH, PARAMEDIC, PALESTINE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY
My colleague Rami Abu Jazar approached me.
He told me that Razan insisted on photographing our work.
I said "Alright, let's do it."
He told me that Razan asked a lot about me and that he made him come and get me.
On the Friday before his murder,
she came up to me and said "Rasha, I love you!"
It was a working relationship that was beginning to become close.
When Razan saw Rasha, he ran to her,
as if he was seeing her for the first time in a long time.
She missed him very much.
When I saw her, I shook her hand and asked her, "What's wrong?"
She wanted to know if we would have to move closer to the fence.
I replied that it depended on the situation, and that if that were the case, we would be ready.
Later,
when we arrived at the scene of the clashes,
you Razan.
His white coat already had blood stains on it.
I joked, "Where did that blood come from, Razan?"
"The day hasn't even started!"
She said an elderly man was hit in the head
with a tear gas grenade and she attended to him.
Our conversation ended with a hail of gas bombs.
Israeli forces
began to fire gas at the protesters,
like any other Friday.
We began to help the injured,
providing them with first aid.
Around 5:30 p.m.,
we noticed that there were two injured people near the fence.
We noticed that one was unconscious,
because only one of them could speak.
We all decided we should be strong
and move forward to evacuate the injured.
Everyone, as a team,
we made the decision to move towards the fence,
together, wearing our medical scrubs and holding our hands up.
As you saw on social media,
We went with our hands raised, to show that we were peaceful
and we just wanted to help and evacuate the injured.
Some reports said it was unclear,
who didn't know we were rescuers.
No, it was clear, everything indicated that we were a medical team.
We continued moving forward with our hands raised until we reached them.
We came within a meter of them.
He's a sniper, my god!
I noticed that an Israeli sniper was pointing his rifle at us,
so I shouted to my colleagues to warn them of this.
As soon as we saw them, we tried to retreat,
and that's when they shot.
When the bullets hit the sand,
We didn't know whether they were shooting at us or at the ground.
So, we had to retreat to protect ourselves.
We got as close as we could,
but we were unable to remove the wounded.
When we retreat,
they started firing gas bombs,
and then we started to lose consciousness.
Razan and I were suffocated by the gas and passed out.
The team evacuated us.
They took us 50 meters away from the fence,
until we regain consciousness.
We were standing in the safest area possible.
Away from the protesters,
away from the fence, away from any incident.
At that time, the situation was stable.
There were two soldiers pointing their weapons at us.
When the sniper moved,
I shouted to Rami and told him to pay attention,
just to be even more careful.
Before I could even complete my sentence,
Two very loud shots rang out.
I was about to tell them we were paramedics.
Before I could turn around, blood was already pouring from my leg.
I started to check my body, thinking I was the one who had been shot.
Everyone was checking each other out.
Razan and I were shot with two bullets fired simultaneously.
We fell at the same moment.
She fell to the right and I fell to the left.
I don't know what happened after that.
People gathered around me.
Me and everyone around me were screaming.
They took Razan to the ambulance,
and I was carried on a stretcher straight to the field hospital.
I was so focused on Rami,
I didn't realize that the girl they brought was Razan.
Go to sleep!
I went to the tent that was for injured women,
to ensure your privacy,
I went in and saw it was Razan.
I saw her and I didn't know she already...
had left.
The doctor was trying to accommodate the instruments to establish artificial respiration.
When I left,
our colleagues asked about her and I was the only one who had seen her.
I told them I would be fine. What else could I tell them?
The next time I saw Razan, she was in the morgue.
It was a shock for me, of course, and for all of us.
It's our daughter.
Razan was my eldest daughter, she was my first joy.
Razan believed in his humanitarian work.
He was a true merciful angel.
He worked with conviction.
And without discrimination.
His biggest concern was reaching all the injured
to serve them.
Razan was a beacon
who showed the world what it means to be a humanitarian,
what it means to be a healthcare professional.
Although Razan has suffered gas attacks many times before,
I never imagined that.
She told me: "Mom, I'm protected by my lab coat."
"Obviously I'm a paramedic. My clothes show what I do."
When he goes to help the injured, he even goes with his hands up, in peace.
I want justice for Razan.
I want the Israeli government to be punished
and take full responsibility for what you did to my girl,
for all his crimes against the Palestinian people.
I will be posted before the entire world and in all international courts.
I'm ready to stand in front of everyone and face them.
I make a call to the whole world and to every mother who sees me,
whose heart loves and cares for his children,
how my heart aches for mine.
No one feels pain except those who live it.
I have my heart broken for my daughter every day.
I am so sad for my daughter, Razan was my first joy.
What crime did she commit?
I longed to see her get married, hold her children!
They robbed me!
Razan did not deserve to be murdered in cold blood,
with the whole world watching.
No. Razan's case will not go unnoticed.
After the international commotion over Razan's death,
The Israeli military responded by publishing this video...
THIS PARAMEDIC WAS ENCOURAGED BY HAMAS
GIVING YOUR LIFE FOR THEIR OBJECTIVES
Sou Razan Al-Najjar.
I'm here on the front line and I act as a human shield.
HAMAS USES PARAMEDICS AS HUMAN SHIELDS
In the actual video, which was not maliciously edited,
Razan explains clearly
how it protects the injured and dying to save their lives,
as any combat area rescuer would tell you.
I'm here on the front line serving as a human shield,
to protect and save the injured on the front line.
It is known that Israel is a state that is above the law.
We call the whole world to confront them,
to boycott them, even in the smallest things.
And we tell you: our march will continue until the end,
until we regain our rights in Palestine.
And that despite the martyrdom of my daughter and so many others,
we will continue along this path.
Our message to the American people is to seek the truth,
that look at us with humanity,
that see us as human,
to ask for justice.
Let Israel and its crimes stop.
All we ask for is a dignified life, to live in safety.
Spend a night safely,
no rockets, no bombs, no martyrs, no injured.
All we ask for are our most basic rights.
We ask the American people and all the people of the world
to end the siege imposed on Gaza,
to lift the sanctions,
to exert pressure on the Israeli army
so that he stops committing crimes against us.
The Palestinian people are buried alive.
We make a call to them. Enough!
As long as the siege is imposed on Gaza,
We can't breathe, we can't live.
The occupation warplanes are overhead,
his soldiers, behind and in front,
With the siege, we cannot breathe.
Isn't it time already?
Everyone around the world is sitting and watching us.
Comfortable in their lives. Here we are under siege.
The borders are closed and we have no land.
Where should we go?
How long will the world watch the Palestinian people
be killed and have your rights taken away?
It is no longer time to prosecute the Israeli armed forces,
whose crimes increase every day?
Why not now? Isn't it time?
How long will we continue censoring and appealing? I need justice!
We want more than compassion, we want our rights!
The fact
that the State of Israel committed hundreds,
perhaps thousands of war crimes in the Great March of Return.
And it's very clear today
that there is no possibility of liability
from Israeli society itself.
A study from Tel Aviv University
found that 83% of Israelis
supported the policy of opening fire on Gaza protesters.
Just like 95% supported the atrocious bombings of 2014.
When some Israeli human rights defenders
questioned the practice of opening fire in Israel's highest court,
on the basis that you cannot kill unarmed people
that do not pose an imminent threat,
the action was unanimously rejected.
The Israeli high court codified the practice,
saying that every protester, from children to healthcare professionals,
represented an imminent threat.
The only way for internationally recognized rights
of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond be honored,
is that Israel be taken to international courts.
Until now, you have enjoyed full protection
of the American empire,
protected from accountability by the war machine.
And with more freedom than ever with Trump.
If thousands in Gaza can fight so heroically,
against so many difficulties,
so conscious people around the world can too.
Palestinians have set the path of "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions",
and a judicial process for justice.
It is now up to us to make their sacrifices
be more than headlines.
GAZA BOOK
FREE PALESTINE
The siege destroyed and humiliated us.
We appear to be alive, but we are not.
We are buried alive under the siege.
Gaza is no longer Gaza.
Gaza is absolutely destroyed.
Gaza is just a name. It's the name of his skeleton.
It is not possible to find happy and cheerful people here.
The Palestinian people live in harsh conditions.
Israel's pressure is tearing him apart. The deaths are tearing him apart.
Wherever you look, you see suffering.
I feel like I'm suffocating with rage.
Normal people sleep. My thoughts keep me awake.
Sometimes, out of anger, I break things at home.
The occupation tore us apart. The siege tore us apart.
Homes are torn apart. Families are torn apart.
Our people don't live.
And that. The siege humiliated us.
He didn't spare a single soul.
The situation of most families goes from bad to worse.
This is the furthest you can get from Gaza.
Put your feet in the water, on the sands of its coast...
It's the outermost border you can touch
without permission from the Israeli military.
Most will never be allowed to leave.
Trapped in this place,
which is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world,
there is much more than misery.
One finds happiness, love and joy.
But Gaza is not defined by how it deals with oppression,
if not for their fight for freedom.
GAZA'S FIGHTS FOR FREEDOM
Gaza finds itself at the center of an international controversy,
as in the past, because civilians are being killed in large numbers,
by an army claiming self-defense.
This chapter takes place in the Great March of Return,
which began on March 30, 2018.
In these great marches,
hundreds of people were killed, thousands injured,
but they continued, every Friday, despite such a chance of death.
Despite occasionally making headlines,
What is rarely explored is why so many would risk their own skin
in an act of civil disobedience.
The Gaza Strip is approximately just 40 km long by 5 km wide.
Two million Palestinians live packed into this small space,
one of the most densely populated places in the world.
Half are children.
Many live in refugee camps spread across the besieged territory.
The proportion dependent on external aid reaches a staggering 80%.
Call with precision from open air prison,
There are only two ways to leave the fenced area:
the Erez Pass, into Israeli territory,
and the Rafah Pass, which leads to Egypt.
Both are completely controlled by hostile militaries.
What Israel calls "border"
is actually a heavily militarized perimeter fence
made of barbed wire, closed circuit TV
and even lethal exclusion zones.
If you walk too close to the so-called exclusion zone,
which extends 300 meters beyond the fence,
Israeli forces are authorized to shoot to kill.
Thousands of unarmed Palestinians have been shot for violating this rule,
counting only the year 2018.
The same applies to the Gaza coast.
It is the only place in the world from which you cannot escape even by boat.
as refugees elsewhere often do.
Fishermen are restricted to just a few nautical miles from its shores.
Going further, even by accident,
you can be annihilated by Israeli warships.
A huge breakwater in the north and south, currently being expanded,
confines them within their little patch of sea.
This violence is aggravated by an economic blockade
which imposes a stranglehold of poverty on Gaza,
resulting in one of the highest unemployment rates in the world,
according to the World Bank.
70% of young people are unemployed,
and 52% of the general population.
Like Emad Fraij Soboh, who lives in Bait Lahia,
a small town in the north of the Gaza Strip.
He was a farmer until the Israeli blockade
break most agricultural enterprises.
He was shot in the leg at the Great March of Return protests.
Now, unemployed, he resorts to one of his only sources of income:
sift through the debris of Israeli bombings.
We cannot educate our children, we cannot come, we cannot go.
The economy here has collapsed.
I collect plastic, metal, stones.
In a day, I get 20 shekels, 15 shekels, 30 shekels.
It's simply not enough.
There are no jobs, the situation is horrible.
It's very difficult to turn around.
This is my daughter, she has hearing problems.
I took her to many doctors. They say he needs tubes in his ears.
I can't pay for your treatment.
See, I have a family of 16 people and we all live in two rooms.
Our roof is terrible, full of holes.
In winter, people are comfortable and safe, but not me.
I have to put a bucket here, another there, another there...
I do not sleep.
If you open my fridge, you won't find anything.
I live on dry goods,
of pepper, cucumber, spices, ztar, olive, tea.
As you see, my wife and I burned nylon and paper
for cooking and preparing tea.
I don't have money to buy a gas cylinder,
It costs 70 shekels.
I can't buy enough milk,
so sometimes I give him bread dipped in tea.
How is this life?
This food insecurity is an intentional effect of the lockdown.
In fact, Israeli officials determine the amount of food
which they will let into Gaza per day,
based on the calculation of the minimum calorie intake
necessary to avoid malnutrition.
Officials call this putting Gaza on a diet.
Food shortages are just one problem.
More dangerous is the shortage of drinking water.
There is not enough water.
I only have one water tank for 16 people.
I fill gallons to overcome the shortage. I don't have enough.
It is not always available.
Sometimes we drink the municipal one, salty and untreated.
Not suitable for cooking.
From now on, it is unfit for any human being to live,
Even the UN reports that the lack of water alone
will have made the Gaza Strip completely uninhabitable by 2020.
97% of fresh water in Gaza is toxic.
The vast majority of Gaza's desalination plants,
that produce fresh water,
were destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombs
and cannot operate.
Repairing them requires importing materials prohibited by the blockade.
More than 25% of all diseases in Gaza
are directly caused by contaminated water.
This fact alone leads to a calamitous situation,
but the almost total lack of electricity
makes quality of life impossible.
Electricity cuts are killing us.
Water cannot be pumped to the tanks on the roof without electricity.
We suffer from a lack of electricity. I swear to God we suffered.
Most of the day there is no electricity.
There is electricity 4 hours a day, the rest of the day there is no.
16 or 20 hours a day without.
We can't freeze water
nor preserve food like normal people.
Most food spoils due to power cuts.
Electricity is as important as the air we breathe.
We are afraid, it is very dangerous.
One of the children may burn their clothes or the house.
I have many ambitions in life.
I would like to have an income to send my sons and daughters to school
and give them the best life.
I hope someday I can feel joy.
But instead, my life just gets worse every day.
What can we do?
The siege destroyed Gaza.
The siege destroyed us.
This common story is why so many want to leave Gaza,
but they are trapped.
Even when it's a matter of life and death,
they are sentenced to a slow and painful end.
To leave the Gaza Strip,
you must obtain permission from the Israeli authorities.
They are rarely approved, even for vital medical treatments.
The effect is clear when comparing the cancer survival rate
with that of the neighboring population:
If you are diagnosed with breast cancer in Israel,
you have an 86% chance of surviving.
In Gaza, the survival rate plummets to just 30%.
Year after year, Israel tightens the noose.
In 2012, 93% of travel permits for medical reasons were granted.
In 2014, the number fell to 82%.
In 2016, the number decreased even further.
The following year, it fell to the lowest point ever recorded, 54%.
This is the most basic right for a human being:
live and move freely.
But the Israeli siege that motivates the protests
it is also used to punish participants.
MOHAMMED AL-SHA'RAWI, BAIT LAHIA MUNICIPALITY
Freedom is something that lives in your heart,
something everyone wants to feel.
We love our land, we fight to defend what is dear to us.
I was injured on May 4th.
I went to the march with some friends.
I was with the people and I was shot in the foot.
My bones were fractured.
I suffered torn ligaments and nerve damage.
The hospital discharged me
and they told me that they would refer me to receive treatment outside,
and if I couldn't get treatment outside,
would have to undergo an amputation.
I was rejected the first time they submitted my name.
They sent it again and I was rejected again.
I was rejected twice.
I'm still looking for someone to help me cross.
Every day that passes, they have to cut a little bit of my bone.
It's already 5 cm shorter.
Countless people injured in protests have been denied essential medical permission
for Israel,
based on family connections to Hamas,
the elected leadership in Gaza.
Another form of collective punishment.
Mohammed cannot travel to save his leg from amputation,
because Israel treats all Palestinians with the presumption that they are terrorists,
painting himself as the real victim.
Gaza has a history.
If you look at the mass media,
the story you find is that they launched hundreds of rockets
against Israeli cities across the border.
Everything before this point is left out.
Most commonly, we hear about rockets hitting the border town of Sderot.
This is where the notorious "Sderot Cinema" is located,
where settlers drink beer and eat popcorn
as they watch bombs fall on Gaza.
Sderot was once called Huj,
a village that was 100% Palestinian and Muslim.
Israeli historian Benny Morris revealed
that the Palestinian inhabitants not only coexisted well with the Jewish settlers,
but in fact they hid and protected us
of the British occupation forces in 1946.
When a British Army raid
was detaining members of the Jewish paramilitary organization,
the Palestinians of Huj kept them safe.
It was a shock to them that, just about a year later,
the same paramilitaries violently expelled all the residents of Huj.
Everyone fled to Gaza.
Huj was renamed Sderot,
and settlers from all over the world began moving there.
This is the familiar story of almost all current Gazans,
Approximately 75% of people living there
they are refugees from villages just beyond its borders.
They were among the 500 Arab villages
completely depopulated by bullets in 1948,
in what became known as the Nakba.
Those who did not leave their homes were killed.
That year, the UN adopted Resolution 194,
which stated that all 750 thousand Palestinians
made refugees by the Nakba
they had the right to return to the land from which they were ethnically cleansed.
From that day forward, Israel rejected her,
in flagrant violation of international law.
The removal of the indigenous population was always the plan,
as founder and first Prime Minister Ben Gurion declared:
"We must expel the Arabs and take their homes."
Just 6 months after the creation of Israel,
Top-secret military orders reveal their politics
targeting movements of Arab civilians from Gaza.
Its mission, stated clearly:
expulsion of Arab inhabitants
and denial of their return by demolishing their homes.
Round up all residents and deport them to Gaza.
Burn the villages.
And more shocking:
raise the paths along which refugees move
and install mines on these routes.
And, in 1954, the Infiltration Prevention Law was created,
to punish any refugee who attempted to return,
establishing a shoot-to-kill policy,
like the one that is still used today
against the protesters of the Great March of Return.
UN ASSISTANCE AGENCY
TO PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST | 1949
A VIDEO REPORT ON THE PROBLEM OF ARAB REFUGEES
These are the citizens of tomorrow
who urgently need help to live today.
It's the age-old question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The answer is yes!"
You and anyone who becomes aware of a great tragedy
must take responsibility for closing it.
This is a problem that begs the civilized world
a quick, humanitarian and permanent solution.
But the story doesn't end there.
In a gigantic military offensive in 1967,
they took over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
and placed them under martial law.
The prime minister at the time, Levi Eshkol,
was very open about his plan to depopulate Gaza.
A tactic he proposed to make its inhabitants flee
is still used today.
He said, Maybe if we dont give them enough water, they wont have a choice;
"because the orchards will turn yellow and dry up."
In another field,
a well that normally provided water for 2,000 people
It quickly dried up after being used by 13,000 or more.
Some Palestinian refugees have been living in refugee camps for 30 years,
raised their children,
and these, in turn, also raised their own children there.
Three generations of refugees.
It barely seems possible.
From then until 2005,
Israel has established 21 large settlements,
covering 20% of the territory of Gaza.
Just as the West Bank quickly disappeared
As settlements grew, so did Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza lived under an illegal military occupation
and were subject to dozens of military control points,
Jewish-only roads and other forms of violence.
Under military control,
all political activity is considered illegal,
including participating in peaceful protests,
distributing leaflets and even raising a Palestinian flag.
Palestinians were routinely evacuated from their homes
and forced to watch them be demolished,
as the military cleared the way for new settlements.
Inevitably, huge uprisings of the entire Palestinian population broke out,
what became known as the First and Second Intifada.
Whether the tactics used were violent or non-violent,
they were crushed with maximum cruelty and brutality.
It was here that the largely symbolic act of throwing stones
was widely adopted as an act of resistance,
a suitable weapon for a David versus Goliath story.
Although Israel publicly maintains its desire for peace,
their actions say otherwise.
Militant resistance forced Israeli occupation
to leave Gaza in 2005, while cementing
a permanent military occupation of the West Bank.
Angry extremist settlers, determined to take Gaza,
they had to be physically removed by the Israeli military.
But this movement was never meant to be permanent.
The desire for a Greater Israel, swallowing Gaza whole and beyond,
It's no secret.
The following year, Gaza held its first democratic elections.
Hamas won.
MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR, CO-FOUNDER OF HAMAS We are not promoting terrorism
or violence.
We are under occupation,
the Israelis continue their aggression against our people...
murders, arrests, demolitions...
and to stop these processes,
we carry out effective self-defense by all means,
including the use of weapons.
A diplomatic message published by Wikileaks
reveals the truth behind Israel's rhetoric about Hamas.
After losing the elections,
the rival Fatah party requested that Israel come to its aid
with weapons and military attacks
to prevent Hamas from taking control of the Gaza Strip.
As stated in the messages,
the head of Israeli intelligence told the US ambassador
that they wanted Hamas to take full control in Gaza,
telling him that if Hamas managed to take full control,
Israel's military could classify Gaza
like hostile territory.
As a result, Fatah fled,
and Israel immediately appointed every man,
woman and child in Gaza as "hostile",
and therefore, a legitimate target.
With this excuse, that all of Gaza is a hostile entity,
they implemented the devastating lockdown
and began a regular series of bombings
who took death and destruction to a new level.
This last decade is defined by routine massacres
of the caged population of Gaza,
always portrayed by Israeli officials as self-defense.
With practically zero deaths
on the Israeli side of these so-called "wars",
thousands of civilians in Gaza perished under its bombs
in 2008, 2012, and in the worst of these massacres, in 2014.
In those 2 months, Israeli bombs killed 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza,
the vast majority non-combatants.
A terrifying total of 500 children.
But this most recent aerial massacre took much more than lives.
Around 178 thousand homes were completely destroyed
or left in need of severe repairs.
Worse still, they cannot be rebuilt.
Israeli blockade prohibits entry
of any construction materials in Gaza.
This is why Gaza is still in rubble,
as if the war had ended yesterday.
Bombings continue regularly.
Typically, they follow the same script:
Israel violates a ceasefire agreement,
Gaza responds with rockets,
and Israel launches an absolutely disproportionate attack,
with mass media proclaiming an upside-down reality.
In the beginning, Israel justified its crimes
as defense against infiltrators,
then against terrorists, and today the excuse is Hamas.
But what does Hamas really stand for?
Hamas today, in its official statute,
says it accepts the two-state solution promoted by the international community.
Exactly what we are told is the path to peace.
declare that
"Hamas considers establishing a Palestinian state"
"completely sovereign and independent,"
"on lines prior to the 1967 military occupation,"
"as a national consensus formula."
Hamas statute rejects anti-Semitism
and the confusion of Judaism with political Zionism,
equal standing with progressive Jewish organizations around the world.
In contrast,
all parties in the coalition that governs Israel
officially oppose the creation of such a state
and openly promise to annex the West Bank.
But they always flip the narrative,
reducing the entire population of Gaza to a caricature of Hamas.
In reality, there is a mosaic of political trends.
Some are more conservative than Hamas,
many support rival Fatah,
while others are in left-wing parties,
such as the communist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
This political diversity is reflected in the Long March.
The official steering committee is made up of representatives from various parties.
It is run mainly by independent academics, artists and journalists.
In fact, the idea of a big march was dreamed up by just one Palestinian,
the 34-year-old journalist and poet Ahmed Abu Artema,
when he saw birds flying freely to the land that was forbidden to him.
It all started with a post on the internet:
"What would happen if thousands of Gazans"
"try to peacefully cross the fence that separates them"
"from your ancestral lands?"
"I SAW THE BIRDS FLY OVER THE FENCES... WITHOUT BEING STOPPED BY ANYONE."
"THE BIRDS DECIDE TO FLY AND THEY FLY"
"I DISCOVERED THE TRUE REASON TO ABOMINATE OCCUPATION..."
I HATE IT BECAUSE IT CONTRADICTS THE LAW OF NATURE.
"BORD ME FROM BEING A BIRD THAT FLIES."
AHMED ABU ARTEMA, ORGANIZER OF THE GREAT MARCH OF RETURN
Gaza is suffering an intolerable humanitarian crisis that cannot continue.
The economy collapsed, the social infrastructure collapsed.
There are no salaries, no jobs, no future, and the borders are closed.
These reasons led to the creation and mobilization of the Great March of Return.
Especially with Trump's recognition of Jerusalem
as the capital of the invaders
and the fear of Palestinians that the situation of refugees would be forgotten,
which is our most sacred cause.
There are approximately 10 million Palestinian refugees
protected by UN Resolution 194.
Article 11 guarantees the right of these refugees
to return to their homes,
of which they were forcibly evicted in 1948.
Protesters at the March of Return support this demand.
We want to return to our homes.
After all, we cannot trust the morality of the colonial occupation of Palestine.
Instead, we are committed to creating pressure
and mobilization around the world for our just cause,
until we reach that historic moment that other peoples of the world have reached,
when they achieved their freedom, independence and self-determination.
Yes, looking at it from a historical and ethical angle,
the occupation carries its own downfall,
because it is based on colonization and segregation.
It's based on murder
and discrimination against other people.
The occupation tries to erase these people.
So we find strength in our rights.
We will continue our fight even though we know we are weaker.
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES The Israel Defense Forces will do everything to protect its civilians from the massacre
that Hamas is planning.
MONDAY, MAY 14, THE HAMAS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
PLANS TO SEND ARMED TERRORISTS AMONG THE 250,000 VIOLENT RIOTS
TO GROUP AND BREAK ISRAEL'S BORDER WITH GAZA
AND ENTER ISRAELIAN COMMUNITIES.
THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES WILL NOT ALLOW THEM.
WHAT YOU BRING TO A PROTEST/WHAT HAMAS TAKES TO ITS VIOLENT RIOTS This was the narrative that reached the mass media.
The real organizers of the March were ignored.
Because Ahmed clearly explained that it was a symbolic action:
camping in tents and staging a protest occupation
in the empty lands close to the border,
to draw attention to their struggle as refugees.
This was the real threat to Israel:
a political victory for the Palestinian cause.
So they resorted to the usual detour:
that everything is just a front for Hamas to destroy Israel.
Today, in a new political context, of accelerated colonization.
Therefore, I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem
as the capital of Israel.
Hamas calls for more bloodshed today on the Israel/Gaza border.
Thousands of Palestinians are expected to rise up...
Calling this a protest is not correct.
What actually happened was that Hamas planned an event
in which they wanted thousands of people to invade Israel...
Palestinians allegedly organized by the terrorist group Hamas
are being encouraged to rush over security barriers,
putting yourself in the line of fire...
They were warned to stay away from the border fence
and decided to show up with explosives...
They are paying them to take shots, believe it or not.
They're paying them something like $500 per bullet wound.
Do you know that Hamas sent a 7 year old girl,
who was wearing a Minnie Mouse sweatshirt, stood near the fence,
so that the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces...
in the perverse mentality of Hamas... shoot her and kill her?
It was reported that a person in a wheelchair
received a fatal shot, sir. ambassador.
Hamas is always very good at spreading all kinds of propaganda.
They are experts at this.
And they intentionally changed the day
to coincide with the opening of the embassy,
so that we would all be disgusted and heartbroken
when you see this horrible split screen
of Ivanka Trump, looking like she was at a Country Club,
alongside poor desperate people dying in Gaza.
I agree with you, they totally planned this.
And I'm just saying don't fall into the trap
assembled by a theocratic and authoritarian group
who is sending women and children to serve as human shields.
I couldn't agree more with all of this.
I think it's terrible that Hamas is murdering its own children.
Hamas is conducting a massive self-genocide.
They want as big a pile of dead civilians as they can get,
because someone said that... this is horrendous...
that they use compelling videos of dead Palestinians for their cause.
For them, the more dead, the better.
They're pushing civilians... women, children...
into the line of fire, with the intention of obtaining victims.
We try to minimize the number of victims,
they try to have more victims
to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible.
What are they doing deliberately
is to seek to kill as many Palestinians as possible
to shout to the world: "Help us!"
Much of the world is condemning us for war crimes.
Basically, they are serving the purposes of Hamas.
This is precisely what Hamas is about.
Make no mistake, Hamas is satisfied with yesterday's results.
No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.
And that said, Israel only targeted people
who actively took part in acts of violence.
We only use lethal ammunition in a measured and surgical manner.
Why did Israeli forces
They were shooting to kill protesters
at the Gaza crossings?
Well, we can't put all these people in jail.
I came to liberate Palestine,
so that all of Palestine can be united.
To free Palestine from unjust occupation.
My great hope is that Palestine will be liberated
so we can live in peace.
Our march is peaceful.
All Palestinians participated.
I have the right to have a country. I have the right to have a home.
All these refugees have the right to return to their homes.
We will never leave, we will remain here!
In the past, present and future!
Here, from the camps of the Long March, from Gaza,
we say it's Palestinian women...
She represents all Palestinians...
She left her lands against her will...
When an ant defeats an elephant
When a turtle outruns a horse
When the sun rises at night
Then we will give up on Arab Jerusalem!
Here today are your granddaughters,
declaring that we were forcibly expelled!
We are here now with all our strength.
They are Palestinian women
who are here now with the strong conviction
that we will never renounce our right to return!
Not com balas, not com gs
Let the world hear you
The women of Gaza will not kneel!
Millions of martyrs marching to the border!
Millions of martyrs marching to the border!
Millions of martyrs marching to the border!
It's a peaceful march. What will they do to us?
We don't carry weapons, we go there completely exposed.
We are facing a great force, a fortified army,
with tanks, gas, planes.
We are peaceful, we are unprotected and unarmed.
Why are you here?
I'm Palestinian, I have to be here.
Be careful with the head!
We must resist!
Let's resist!
We do not fear the bullets of the occupation.
These bullets fired into our daughters' chests,
children, women, fathers and mothers do not scare us,
We will not surrender!
Evidence of numerous and patent war crimes
in these frequent massacres they are in plain sight.
But let's just look at what the UN discovered in its investigation.
Facts that cannot be refuted.
The UN report published on February 28, 2019
documents the extent of human rights violations
during the Great March of Return in 2018.
Of the 183 deaths caused by sniper fire
investigated by the UN commission,
171 were clearly murders, with shots to the head or torso.
Almost 8 thousand people were injured by lethal ammunition.
Over that 8-month period, 21 were permanently paralyzed,
and another 122 required limb amputation,
included 20 children.
In stark contrast, the UN report found zero deaths on the Israeli side.
Not a single Israeli soldier was killed or seriously injured.
Four claimed to have suffered scratches from thrown stones,
and could only cite property damage
provoked by kites and balloons as motivation to continue the massacre.
Throwing rocks carries a death sentence.
You can see that Hesham Fayez Abu Okel poses no threat
to the lives of Israelis,
he is not armed and is not crossing the border fence.
When the shot is heard, he is the one who is hit in the head.
Incidents like this that were investigated by the UN
constitute patent violations.
On March 30, the first day of the Great March of Return,
Israeli snipers began deploying lethal ammunition at 9 am.
Along the day,
the Israel Defense Forces shot and killed 18 unarmed protesters,
and injured another 765 with lethal ammunition.
Among the victims of the first day,
Bader Sabagh, 19, was resting,
smoking a cigarette 300 meters away,
when he was killed with a shot to the head.
Mechanic Naji Abu Johayeer, 24,
was standing wrapped in a Palestinian flag
300 meters from the fence when he was shot in the abdomen.
The youngest victim was a 2-year-old child;
the oldest, a 71-year-old woman.
Six weeks later, on May 14,
in one of the most heinous massacres of unarmed people in modern history,
Israeli snipers killed 60 people that day alone,
including 7 children.
The number of victims could have been much higher,
considering the fact that they shot and injured
another 1,162 people with lethal ammunition.
Just a sample of these victims already demonstrates the barbarity.
21-year-old university student Ali Khafajah
was using a cell phone about 150 meters away when he was shot in the head.
Mahmoud Jundya, 20 years old,
was filming the protest 50 meters from the fence when he was shot.
As he agonized on the floor,
an Israeli sniper shot him in the back.
An international war correspondent
interviewed for the UN report narrated the scene:
"Every few minutes you would hear a gunshot,"
"and saw someone fall,"
"and then one more... It went on for hours."
"There was a constant stream of bloodied bodies"
"being loaded into the ambulances."
It was surreal and never-ending.
"I covered wars in Syria, Yemen, Libya..."
"I've never seen anything like it."
"The slow, methodical shots."
"It was just shocking."
Let us simply imagine for a moment
that armed militants on the Long March were shooting back
against Israeli soldiers during the protest,
which would actually be protected as legitimate resistance
by international law.
1978 UN General Assembly Resolution:
"Reaffirms the legitimacy of the people's struggle for independence,"
"territorial integrity, national unity"
"and liberation from colonial and foreign domination"
"and from foreign occupation by all available means,"
"particularly the armed struggle"
Even if there was an armed struggle,
all documented actions of the Israeli military
against children, disabled people, the press and health professionals
would still be considered absolutely illegal war crimes.
But the fact that there were no armed militants,
that there was no use of weapons against soldiers,
that there was no "battle", as they say,
makes his crimes even more atrocious and undeniable.
In fact, the official Twitter account of the Israel Defense Forces
publicly admitted that none of those who were shot were done by accident.
According to officials: "Nothing was done without control;"
"everything was precise and measured, and we know where each bullet arrived."
Even more incriminating, Israeli General Zvika Fogel
described how snipers identified
and obtained authorization to shoot children.
I know how these orders are given, I know how a sniper shoots,
I know how many authorizations he needs
before receiving permission to open fire.
It's not about the whim of one sniper or another
who identifies the small body of a child and decides to shoot.
Someone marks your target very well, tells you exactly why you need to shoot
and what threat does that individual represent...
Is your penalty death?
Yes, your penalty is death, according to my criteria.
If you can shoot just to stop him, in the leg or arm, great,
but if it goes beyond that, yes.
Do you want to check with me which blood is thicker,
ours or theirs?
I was holding a Palestinian flag when I was shot in the head.
HAYTHEM AL-GHANDOUR, CAMPO DE REFUGIADOS DE AL-SHATI
On April 16th, I was shot in the knee.
My right leg was hit by a gas bomb.
I went home from the hospital and got better.
The following Friday, we returned to the March.
After we arrived, I took a shot that went through my left leg.
On May 8th, I went with the boys to the Malaka refugee camp.
I was just raising the Palestinian flag, like the others.
He was demanding the right to return, like the others.
It was at that moment that they shot me in the head.
The bullet went in and out of my head.
I received 55 stitches inside and outside my head.
A few days later, I underwent another surgery to remove the shrapnel.
Their goal is to kill young people in Gaza.
They want to destroy your future
so that they cannot defend their land or approach the separation fence.
If young people fall,
there will be no one left to defend Palestine.
In addition to these broadly defined war crimes,
there are specific groups protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Again,
these are protected groups in the event of a real war between armies,
turning violations against unarmed protesters
even more hateful.
CHILDREN
Children are an internationally protected group
by article 77 [Additional Protocol I] of the Fourth Geneva Convention,
which determines that "they are subject to special respect"
"and protected from any type of attack."
- Are you in sight? - Yes yes.
Stopped.
I can't shoot because of the barbed wire.
- Come come come! - There's a small child there.
Shoot.
But he's been dodging all the time!
- Eliminate the pink one. - The pink one, no, I have the blue one.
Wow, what a video! "Yes!"
- That son of a bitch! - Did you film it?
Which video! They're rushing to evacuate him. Of course I filmed it!
Wow! Shoot him in the head!
Record this.
What a legendary video!
- What? I have not seen. - He flew and his leg did like this...
Sons of bitches!
May 14th. Wisal Sheikh-Khalil, 14,
was shot in the head from a distance of 100 meters,
after approaching the fence to hang a Palestinian flag.
He died immediately.
June 29th. Yasser Abu Naja, 11 years old,
he chanted nationalist slogans next to the fence, with two other children.
He was shot in the head while hiding behind a dumpster,
200 meters from the fence.
September 28th. Nasser Mosabeh, aged 11,
he was shot in the back of the head, standing 250 meters from the fence.
He died on the same day.
Throughout the March, in 2018,
35 children were murdered by Israeli snipers.
940 children were shot by Israeli snipers,
many of them left with permanent disabilities.
The UN Commission concludes that Israeli forces
intentionally shot children,
knowing they were children.
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
People with disabilities also have the right to special protection
under international law.
Article 11 of the UN Convention
on the Rights of People with Disabilities:
establishes that all necessary measures must be taken
to ensure the protection and safety of people with disabilities
in situations of armed conflict.
The UN Commission cites several emblematic cases
in which civilians with disabilities were made direct targets
during the 2018 Marches.
Both legs of 29-year-old Fadi Abu Salmi
were amputated after an Israeli airstrike in 2008.
On May 14th,
Israeli snipers shot him in the chest
while sitting in his wheelchair,
300 meters from the fence.
He died instantly.
Ahmad Abu Aqel, 24 years old, walked with the aid of crutches,
due to being injured by Israeli forces
during a demonstration in 2017.
On April 20th,
Israeli forces shot him in the back of the head
while sitting on a mound, 150 meters from the fence.
He died that day.
The Commission confirmed
that snipers intentionally shot these protesters,
despite seeing that they had obvious deficiencies.
JOURNALISTS
ABDULLAH AL-SHORBAIJI, JORNALIST
As journalists, we went to cover the March,
the peaceful demonstration near the fence that separates us from the occupied lands,
to convey the peaceful message of the Palestinian people to the world.
We wanted to cover how protesters were targeted
by the occupying forces.
We wanted to show the true face of the occupation.
There is no doubt that the Palestinian people are targets
and that protesters near the fence were targets.
The Israeli occupation does not distinguish between children and adults.
It does not distinguish between journalists, civilians or paramedics.
As journalists, we were directly targeted,
and we, the family of Gaza journalists, lost two martyrs:
our fellow journalists Yasser Mourtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein.
And many journalists were injured too.
Journalists were direct targets, even when wearing identification vests.
When I was hurt,
wore a press identification vest,
to indicate that I am a journalist.
And despite that, they shot me.
Israeli soldiers shot me in the abdomen
with an expanding bullet.
COMERCIAL DA BALA EXPANSIVA "R.I.P."
Since the invention of the revolver and pistol cartridge,
ammunition manufacturers have sought to maximize
the lethal potential of its projectiles.
This projectile is the Radically Invasive Projectile,
the last bullet you'll ever need.
This bullet was removed from my foot.
This bullet explodes into 6 pieces.
Thank God it didn't completely explode.
Some fragments remained on my foot.
We were shot with these internationally banned bullets.
It explodes and its fragments disperse inside the body,
causing lacerations and very serious problems in the future.
Designed to maximize power dissipation where it's needed
and overcome any major obstacle in your path,
there's really nothing like it.
As the material fills the hollow center,
the projectile starts to work like a hole saw,
effectively cutting through obstacles,
such as plywood, car glass,
plasterboard, concrete blocks,
metal plates and multiple layers of denim.
Expanding bullets are strictly prohibited,
under any circumstances, by the 1899 Hague Convention.
In addition to the abundant evidence for the use of expanding bullets,
they employed another type of illegal ammunition:
an unidentified toxic gas.
The term "tear gas" in the Great March of Return is misleading.
- Where's the ambulance? - A stretcher, guys! Quickly!
This gas causes loss of consciousness, convulsions, and is lethal.
The use of lethal gas against soldiers or civilians
is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
- Expose your face to the open air! - Free air here?
Making journalists a direct target is terrifying and dangerous.
It led to many journalists dying.
However, that didn't stop us.
There is a commitment between journalists who have been injured,
to return to cover the demonstrations when they recover from their injuries.
This is what journalism is all about, it is the profession of difficulties.
When journalists get hurt,
they must get up again and return to the field.
This is the profession of difficulties, this is journalism.
Journalists are an internationally protected group, just like civilians,
in accordance with article 79 [Additional Protocol I] of the Geneva Conventions.
In accordance with Protocol I, article 79,
targeting journalists is an atrocious war crime,
regardless of their political affiliation.
During the Long March in 2018,
Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed two journalists
with press identification,
and injured 39 others who were covering the demonstrations.
The whole world can see how they target journalists.
The international community and press organizations,
who claim to defend human rights and democracy,
must ensure the rights of Palestinian journalists
to carry out their legitimate work.
Journalists are a target
so that they cannot communicate the truth about the occupation.
They do not pose any risk to the Israeli occupation or its soldiers,
who are armed with the newest and heaviest weapons.
Journalists pose no threat with their cameras,
cell phones or equipment.
However, the real threat they pose is that they will expose the truth.
They don't want Palestinian journalists to expose the truth.
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
MOHAMMED MEQDAD, PARAMEDIC
The first seven weeks were normal.
We were not targeted.
We were only gassed on a smaller scale.
This is until May 14th.
The atmosphere had been strange since the beginning of the day.
Before dividing tasks,
surprisingly, they shot our boss close to the leg.
We were shocked that they did this, it was the first time.
Moments later, conflicts began to emerge.
They shot at us.
Some were injured by shrapnel.
I was working normally,
until my colleague was murdered.
Musa Abu Hassanin Abu Zeid, may his soul rest in peace.
About half an hour after his martyrdom,
I had taken the last injured person to the ambulance...
I was only 20 or 30 meters away from the ambulance when they shot me.
I was shot with an expanding bullet.
Thank God I was wearing tall boots.
The bullet hit my boot and exploded before penetrating my leg.
If it had exploded inside, my leg would have been amputated.
After exploding,
It made a hole inside my leg and broke two bones.
They told me a bone is lost,
cannot be treated.
I have three holes in my leg.
You can see the ligaments.
I underwent four surgeries and next week I will undergo the fifth.
Occupied Palestine is one of the most dangerous places in the world
to work as a healthcare professional.
According to art. 15 of the Geneva Conventions [Additional Protocol I],
Targeting medical personnel is a serious violation of international law.
Determines that health professionals must receive protection
to carry out its humanitarian functions.
In fact, Israel's own Manual on the Laws of War
written in 1998, it establishes:
"Interfering with the provision of medical care is prohibited."
During the 2018 protests,
Israeli forces shot and killed three clearly identified paramedics.
They try to weaken the protesters
so that they are scared that there are no paramedics there to treat them.
As a protester,
if I see paramedics being shot at, journalists being shot at,
I would say, "Why not me too?"
"If they shoot paramedics and journalists, what will they do to me?"
"They're going to kill me."
I would feel scared, or think that no paramedic would come to rescue me.
So how does Israel justify shooting healthcare workers?
In the eyes of Hamas,
the inhabitants of Gaza are not human beings;
they are nothing more than human shields.
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
No, all types of people participate.
If you want proof, look at the injured people.
You will see women, old people, young people, children.
These are the people who participate.
You will find the answer when you look at the hurting people.
You will know if they are Hamas or not.
Hamas has nothing to do with this.
Everyone goes there to defend their rights.
Neither Hamas nor any other party has anything to do with this.
The March of Return is about taking back our occupied lands.
That's why no party has anything to do with this march.
The March of Return is for all the people.
Israel sees itself as a great country, which is above the law.
He is never held accountable for his crimes.
For example,
if an Israeli soldier or civilian is killed by a rocket or run over,
the entire Western world is turned upside down.
Here, our children, young people, women, die in thousands, not dozens.
No one holds them accountable or seeks the truth.
Our rights are not respected. There is no accountability.
Being a first responder is not just a job for men.
RAZAN AL-NAJJAR, VOLUNTEER RESCUER We have one goal: to save lives and evacuate people.
RAZAN AL-NAJJAR, VOLUNTEER RESCUER And send a message to the world: without weapons, we can do anything.
If they don't want to accept us willingly, they will be forced to accept it.
Because we have more strength than any man.
The strength I showed as a first responder on the first day of the protests,
I challenge you to find it in anyone else.
MURDERED ON JUNE 1, 2018.
SABREEN AL-NAJJAR, ME DE RAZAN AL-NAJJAR
Razan was the first girl to volunteer to go into the field,
the first to go to the March camps.
That participation was his first,
because this march was a peaceful action.
And everyone participated. The whole family and I participated.
RAI'AN ASHRAF AL-NAJJAR, IRM DE RAZAN AL-NAJJAR
All my memories of Razan are very sweet.
She was a kind girl.
She didn't ask for much, but her ambitions were big.
She dreamed of studying nursing
and he committed himself to doing so, no matter what.
Despite facing many difficulties and obstacles,
she insisted on continuing with her work.
ASHRAF AL-NAJJAR, PAI DE RAZAN AL-NAJJAR
His message was clear:
help the injured...
It was a humanitarian mission.
And she was proud of her work.
Because he was helping the injured and doing good for his people.
She demonstrated her ability from day one.
He treated the injuries with great patience.
Some criticized her
for being the first female health professional at the March.
She didn't let that stop her and did her job anyway.
Every night, she used to tell me everything that had happened to her.
She would talk to me or our mother about the difficulties she faced,
about the number of injuries that day, whether it was high, whether she was exhausted...
She told me everything, she didn't hide anything from me.
We didn't see her at home except at night.
She could barely wash her clothes, and sometimes, she couldn't eat.
She would come home to sleep and return the next day,
until the day he died.
Every day, he told us what he had seen, who had been injured.
The person she really felt sad and cried for
it was Abu Sabla, the deaf martyr.
She was standing next to him.
When they shot him, he fell into her arms and she held him.
His brain fell completely out of his head and into her hands.
She ran to the ambulance with parts of his brain in her hands.
He was shot and fell into her arms.
This was one of the most difficult situations he went through.
She told us many more stories.
Every day she told us what had happened,
the injuries, the new types of gas...
She said that although she was sad about what she saw,
he was very happy to care for the injured and alleviate their pain.
She used to come home happy when she had saved many lives.
When the injuries she treated were not fatal, she was very happy.
Today I saved this one and that one, and she listed the names.
"They are now stable."
She reassured me and herself.
She took comfort in that.
RAMI ABU JAZAR, PARAMEDIC AT THE PALESTINE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY
June 1st was a different day than the rest.
That day, Razan came to me
and I think she was different.
As soon as the team arrived,
she said she would love to take a picture with everyone.
She took some photos with me
and said he wanted to publish them on social media.
But I asked him not to publish them,
because we were working.
She said "No, I'm going to publish them whether you like it or not!"
I didn't expect Razan to be martyred
and the photos disseminated the circumstances of his death.
After that,
told me that he missed his colleague Rasha
and that I would like to see her.
She asked me to drive and pick up Rasha so she could see her.
RASHA QUDAIH, PARAMEDIC, PALESTINE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY
My colleague Rami Abu Jazar approached me.
He told me that Razan insisted on photographing our work.
I said "Alright, let's do it."
He told me that Razan asked a lot about me and that he made him come and get me.
On the Friday before his murder,
she came up to me and said "Rasha, I love you!"
It was a working relationship that was beginning to become close.
When Razan saw Rasha, he ran to her,
as if he was seeing her for the first time in a long time.
She missed him very much.
When I saw her, I shook her hand and asked her, "What's wrong?"
She wanted to know if we would have to move closer to the fence.
I replied that it depended on the situation, and that if that were the case, we would be ready.
Later,
when we arrived at the scene of the clashes,
you Razan.
His white coat already had blood stains on it.
I joked, "Where did that blood come from, Razan?"
"The day hasn't even started!"
She said an elderly man was hit in the head
with a tear gas grenade and she attended to him.
Our conversation ended with a hail of gas bombs.
Israeli forces
began to fire gas at the protesters,
like any other Friday.
We began to help the injured,
providing them with first aid.
Around 5:30 p.m.,
we noticed that there were two injured people near the fence.
We noticed that one was unconscious,
because only one of them could speak.
We all decided we should be strong
and move forward to evacuate the injured.
Everyone, as a team,
we made the decision to move towards the fence,
together, wearing our medical scrubs and holding our hands up.
As you saw on social media,
We went with our hands raised, to show that we were peaceful
and we just wanted to help and evacuate the injured.
Some reports said it was unclear,
who didn't know we were rescuers.
No, it was clear, everything indicated that we were a medical team.
We continued moving forward with our hands raised until we reached them.
We came within a meter of them.
He's a sniper, my god!
I noticed that an Israeli sniper was pointing his rifle at us,
so I shouted to my colleagues to warn them of this.
As soon as we saw them, we tried to retreat,
and that's when they shot.
When the bullets hit the sand,
We didn't know whether they were shooting at us or at the ground.
So, we had to retreat to protect ourselves.
We got as close as we could,
but we were unable to remove the wounded.
When we retreat,
they started firing gas bombs,
and then we started to lose consciousness.
Razan and I were suffocated by the gas and passed out.
The team evacuated us.
They took us 50 meters away from the fence,
until we regain consciousness.
We were standing in the safest area possible.
Away from the protesters,
away from the fence, away from any incident.
At that time, the situation was stable.
There were two soldiers pointing their weapons at us.
When the sniper moved,
I shouted to Rami and told him to pay attention,
just to be even more careful.
Before I could even complete my sentence,
Two very loud shots rang out.
I was about to tell them we were paramedics.
Before I could turn around, blood was already pouring from my leg.
I started to check my body, thinking I was the one who had been shot.
Everyone was checking each other out.
Razan and I were shot with two bullets fired simultaneously.
We fell at the same moment.
She fell to the right and I fell to the left.
I don't know what happened after that.
People gathered around me.
Me and everyone around me were screaming.
They took Razan to the ambulance,
and I was carried on a stretcher straight to the field hospital.
I was so focused on Rami,
I didn't realize that the girl they brought was Razan.
Go to sleep!
I went to the tent that was for injured women,
to ensure your privacy,
I went in and saw it was Razan.
I saw her and I didn't know she already...
had left.
The doctor was trying to accommodate the instruments to establish artificial respiration.
When I left,
our colleagues asked about her and I was the only one who had seen her.
I told them I would be fine. What else could I tell them?
The next time I saw Razan, she was in the morgue.
It was a shock for me, of course, and for all of us.
It's our daughter.
Razan was my eldest daughter, she was my first joy.
Razan believed in his humanitarian work.
He was a true merciful angel.
He worked with conviction.
And without discrimination.
His biggest concern was reaching all the injured
to serve them.
Razan was a beacon
who showed the world what it means to be a humanitarian,
what it means to be a healthcare professional.
Although Razan has suffered gas attacks many times before,
I never imagined that.
She told me: "Mom, I'm protected by my lab coat."
"Obviously I'm a paramedic. My clothes show what I do."
When he goes to help the injured, he even goes with his hands up, in peace.
I want justice for Razan.
I want the Israeli government to be punished
and take full responsibility for what you did to my girl,
for all his crimes against the Palestinian people.
I will be posted before the entire world and in all international courts.
I'm ready to stand in front of everyone and face them.
I make a call to the whole world and to every mother who sees me,
whose heart loves and cares for his children,
how my heart aches for mine.
No one feels pain except those who live it.
I have my heart broken for my daughter every day.
I am so sad for my daughter, Razan was my first joy.
What crime did she commit?
I longed to see her get married, hold her children!
They robbed me!
Razan did not deserve to be murdered in cold blood,
with the whole world watching.
No. Razan's case will not go unnoticed.
After the international commotion over Razan's death,
The Israeli military responded by publishing this video...
THIS PARAMEDIC WAS ENCOURAGED BY HAMAS
GIVING YOUR LIFE FOR THEIR OBJECTIVES
Sou Razan Al-Najjar.
I'm here on the front line and I act as a human shield.
HAMAS USES PARAMEDICS AS HUMAN SHIELDS
In the actual video, which was not maliciously edited,
Razan explains clearly
how it protects the injured and dying to save their lives,
as any combat area rescuer would tell you.
I'm here on the front line serving as a human shield,
to protect and save the injured on the front line.
It is known that Israel is a state that is above the law.
We call the whole world to confront them,
to boycott them, even in the smallest things.
And we tell you: our march will continue until the end,
until we regain our rights in Palestine.
And that despite the martyrdom of my daughter and so many others,
we will continue along this path.
Our message to the American people is to seek the truth,
that look at us with humanity,
that see us as human,
to ask for justice.
Let Israel and its crimes stop.
All we ask for is a dignified life, to live in safety.
Spend a night safely,
no rockets, no bombs, no martyrs, no injured.
All we ask for are our most basic rights.
We ask the American people and all the people of the world
to end the siege imposed on Gaza,
to lift the sanctions,
to exert pressure on the Israeli army
so that he stops committing crimes against us.
The Palestinian people are buried alive.
We make a call to them. Enough!
As long as the siege is imposed on Gaza,
We can't breathe, we can't live.
The occupation warplanes are overhead,
his soldiers, behind and in front,
With the siege, we cannot breathe.
Isn't it time already?
Everyone around the world is sitting and watching us.
Comfortable in their lives. Here we are under siege.
The borders are closed and we have no land.
Where should we go?
How long will the world watch the Palestinian people
be killed and have your rights taken away?
It is no longer time to prosecute the Israeli armed forces,
whose crimes increase every day?
Why not now? Isn't it time?
How long will we continue censoring and appealing? I need justice!
We want more than compassion, we want our rights!
The fact
that the State of Israel committed hundreds,
perhaps thousands of war crimes in the Great March of Return.
And it's very clear today
that there is no possibility of liability
from Israeli society itself.
A study from Tel Aviv University
found that 83% of Israelis
supported the policy of opening fire on Gaza protesters.
Just like 95% supported the atrocious bombings of 2014.
When some Israeli human rights defenders
questioned the practice of opening fire in Israel's highest court,
on the basis that you cannot kill unarmed people
that do not pose an imminent threat,
the action was unanimously rejected.
The Israeli high court codified the practice,
saying that every protester, from children to healthcare professionals,
represented an imminent threat.
The only way for internationally recognized rights
of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond be honored,
is that Israel be taken to international courts.
Until now, you have enjoyed full protection
of the American empire,
protected from accountability by the war machine.
And with more freedom than ever with Trump.
If thousands in Gaza can fight so heroically,
against so many difficulties,
so conscious people around the world can too.
Palestinians have set the path of "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions",
and a judicial process for justice.
It is now up to us to make their sacrifices
be more than headlines.
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