No one should have to choose between hunger and death

As famine tightens its grip on Gaza, the global community must confront its silence and demand immediate humanitarian action.

When the choice of life becomes starvation or death, we can no longer support or look away from the atrocities at the hands of the Israeli government. This is no longer about who is right, but rather a great need and call for us all to tap into our collective humanity.

It has been heart-wrenching hearing the countless stories of people in Gaza who have been forced to go to sleep hungry, unable to acquire food because prices are far too high, and receiving aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund is too risky.

With already 875 people having died at the sites where food collection takes place, according to the United Nations, many have to choose between protecting their lives and their livelihoods rather than risking death.

Everyone is quick to cite October 7th as if it impacts what is happening now. It is clear that these are no longer Hamas soldiers but civilians who are forced to suffer due to the inhumane nature of the United States and Israeli governments, which continue to treat Palestinian lives as statistics rather than as people.

Western media continues to claim they are reporting independently, yet they cite the number 115 people dead while expressing a lack of certainty—almost questioning whether the suffering is taking place when it is evidently apparent.

Doctors continue to report their inability to save lives as people are unable to absorb medicine due to malnutrition. A third of the people in Gaza are faced with this major crisis and are unlikely to survive until aid is brought to them and Israel allows aid to flow openly.

Attempts to justify and hide behind the history of this conflict disregard the fact that the Palestinian people have a right to sovereignty, they have human rights, and at the very least, they are people.

Regardless of the political stance you hold or the information you are told, if there is any ability to excuse suffering and the systematic starvation of 2.1 million people, that is not only a failure of morals but a failure of our collective humanity.

Children have been born knowing nothing but suffering. Now, parents will know nothing except the hopes and aspirations of their children’s dreams if nothing is done. This is a moment where everyone ought to take a stance and call for the protection of human rights and the restoration of peace.

This suffering will characterize and define the lives of millions of people for years to come. If not dealt with correctly, it may lead to a world further entrenched in hate, with neither side able to listen to the hardship the other has faced.

It goes without saying that on both sides, Israelis have lost family members, and Palestinians have lost family members. Their suffering is not comparable, and there should be no attempt to make it so. Rather, the world ought to recognize that it is hurting and that there is a need for collective calls for peace and dialogue that allows both sides to see each other fully.

What is happening in Gaza is a failure of international law, it is a failure of the West, and it is a failure of every single one of us if we are able to watch on and remain silent when the people of Gaza know nothing but tears and sleepless nights.

I call for genuine reconciliation of all people—for just a moment to forget about the things that make them different and to find the things that make them the same. Regardless of your race, gender, or ideology, remember that we all feel the same.

Pain, disease, and famine can happen to all of us. When it does, it should not happen at the hands of people, but rather we must ensure that when it does happen, it is in the hands of people who uplift others.

Right now, what we need to do is call for aid to be welcomed in Gaza, to call for the restoration of humanity, and the end to genocide.
What we need is peace, what we need is aid, and what we need is the end of genocide.

Free Palestine.

South Africa’s freedom was incomplete without the freedom of Palestine.

Humanity is not whole when people are forced to suffer at the hands of humans.