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Please donate if you can!!

Hello dear ..

Please do not ignore our suffering

My name is Salman Halas from the afflicted and massively destroyed Gaza Strip..

My family consists of many children, women and elderly people and we are suffering from horrific tragic conditions ..

Our house was bombed in the northern Gaza Strip and we were displaced to the southern Gaza Strip to Deir al-Balah and the family was scattered in tents and shelters in Deir al-Balah .. The conditions are extremely tragic where children suffer from the spread of diseases among them and the elderly and women in my family suffer from miserable conditions ..

There is no water, food or electricity in the Gaza Strip and the treatment is getting worse day after day ..

For more than 340 days we have been oppressed and wronged in the Gaza Strip and we are exposed to violent barbaric bombing ..

We would never ask for help and donations but the miserable conditions in the Gaza Strip forced us to do so ..

https://gofund.me/b755fe97

I appeal to the owners of human consciences and free people in this world to provide us with help ..

Your help, no matter how small, means a lot to us because it contributes to saving us and alleviating our suffering ..

Please donate to us or share my campaign On your blog and for your friends

I assure you that my campaign is completely legitimate

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poem by Akhil Katyal.

the child in the first frame is Ahmed Al-Najjar, he was 18 months old. the children in the second frame were murdered during the Nuseirat massacre. i do not know their names. i also do not know the name of the little girl in the third frame, nor any of the children in the sixth frame. the man in the last slide was the journalist Salem Abu Tyour, and the little boy was his son.

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self portrait titled “child of flame.” this piece is a reflection on climate dread, being an american, and religion.

in terms of climate, a lot of it represents coming of age in an era of worsening climate disasters. this relates to being an american, and how despite my country being responsible for so much environmental damage, those of us in the West are largely insulated from the worst effects of climate change. it’s also about what it means to be an american, to be from a country built on the genocide of indigenous people and which is currently carrying out a genocide in palestine. as for religion, both the religion of one side of my family and my chosen religion involve flame. while my personal relationship to these religions is largely positive, i cannot ignore the way these religions have been used to justify atrocities

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UPDATE: Hind’s body was found today (Feb. 10) along with the bodies of Ahmad and Yousef, the paramedics. I am sick with fury and devastation. They all deserved to live. What compels someone to murder a six year old in cold blood? To hear her crying and snuff her out. I hope she, Ahmad, and Yousef are resting in peace and power. Justice for Hind and for all Palestinians.

This is Hind Rajab. She was in a car with her family trying to get to a hospital in G@za City when an Isr@eli tank shelled them, k!lling most of the family. Her cousin, Layan, called the P@lestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for help, but she was k!lled by the IOF while on the phone with the operator. The PRCS called back and discovered that Hind was the only survivor. They told her to hide under the seats of the car and sent an ambulance crew to rescue her. Neither Hind nor Yousef and Ahmad (the rescuers) since that day, January 29.

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This is Mosab Abu Toha’s son Mostafa (who is thankfully safe in Cairo) and his bookshelf (which was destroyed by an Isr@eli airstr!ke). I wanted to make some space for grieving not only the lives lost during this genoc!de but also the hopes, homes, and dreams that have been destroyed. This account started as book reviews (which I will be doing more of) because I love to read. My books are my most prized possessions, and it’s terrible to imagine the destruction of my bookshelf. We must remember that even for those in Gaza who survive this assault, they are losing their most prized possessions. Their bookshelves, family heirlooms, and lovingly decorated homes all reduced to rubble and ash. They, too, must be mourned

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This is Hind Rajab. She was in a car with her family trying to get to a hospital in G@za City when an Isr@eli tank shelled them, k!lling most of the family. Her cousin, Layan, called the P@lestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for help, but she was k!lled by the IOF while on the phone with the operator. The PRCS called back and discovered that Hind was the only survivor. They told her to hide under the seats of the car and sent an ambulance crew to rescue her. Neither Hind nor Yousef and Ahmad (the rescuers) have been heard from since that day, January 29.

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Um Fathi Shaiban was beaten by IOF soldiers at Kamal Adwan Hospital and later died of her injuries, just days after two of her children were killed. She was a beautiful soul and deserved to live.

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Hamza El Dahdouh was killed by an IOF airstrike along with another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya. Hamza was the son of Wael El Dahdouh, who lost most of his family in another airstrike in the fall. Hamza was targeted on January 7. He deserved to live. His father and sister must now carry on without him. They all deserve to be together as a family, to live in safety in Gaza. Wael had to evacuate for surgery after he survived multiple attempts on his life. I hold him and his family in my heart, along with all the people in Gaza who are currently being slaughtered.

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so last week, there was a chemical attack on pro-palestine protestors at columbia university. the perpetrators, who tried to blend in with the crowd by wearing kufiyas, are former members of the IDF. they likely sprayed Skunk, a chemical used against Palestinians in the West Bank, on the protestors. by the most recent count, nine protestors have been hospitalized, many of them with severe symptoms like intense nausea, irregular heart rhythms, shortness of breath, etc. columbia has yet to reach out to any of these students.

the university claims it has banned the perpetrators from campus, but students have reported seeing one of the attackers on campus this week. the school also initially BLAMED the protestors for holding an “unauthorized event.” notably, they suspended the campus chapters of JVP and SJP in November after a unilateral policy change by the university leaders (and without the typical input of the student senate and other faculty groups). they then used this policy change to suspend JVP and SJP for a walkout. it's abundantly clear that columbia doesn't care about student safety. they care about protecting their image, which means punishing students who voice dissent regarding the university's involvement with Israel (through investments, partnering with a university in Tel Aviv, and making membership in the IDF something that bolsters applications).

let’s be honest. if this were the other way around, if pro-palestine actors (with a military background!) chemically attacked a pro-israel student protest, it would be front page news. god knows claudine gay’s dissertation was enough for the new york times to obsess over. but when it’s pro-palestine protestors facing violence? barely any coverage. and when there is coverage, it’s buried within everything else, with no effort by publications to publicize these stories (via placement on front page or on their social media).

these institutions will never exist to protect marginalized students, no matter how much they claim otherwise. they will tout their diverse population and their programs studying colonization, and then they will turn around and punish students for protesting genocide. they only care about us insofar as doing so protects their reputation and bottom line. they don't keep us safe—we keep us safe.

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Reem Mahmoud Abu Daya wanted to live.

[Video description: an animation of a young woman in a white hijab and graduation gown. She is blowing bubbles and smiling. Instrumental music plays in the background. Text above her reads: Before she was killed, Reem told her friend Mohammad “If I’m martyred, write about me and tell the world about the dreams I had. Tell them a few months ago I had Lasik and began to see Gaza with my own two eyes. Tell them I want to buy a camera to capture the beauty of Gaza.” Reem’s greatest fear wasn’t dying, it was being only a number. She was not a number, she had dreams and hopes and a life.]

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Seedal Abu Jamei was a beloved daughter whose father, Hani, fled with her from their home in Khan Younis to Rafah to keep her safe. She was killed in her tent by an Isr@eli missile. She was only seven years old, and she deserved to live.

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A drawing of Adham Al-Bantaji and his son Adam in the last photo taken of them before they were k!lled by the occupation on Christmas day. They deserved to live.

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While I totally applaud South Africa on taking the israeli occupation to the courts, I think ppl should also keep in mind that the SA government has also been complete shit for places like Sudan. They may had condemned the Israeli Occupation but, in a show of blatant hypocrisy, they've also personally welcomed people greatly responsible for the genocide in Sudan and their president has "condemned" that genocide about as much as Joe Biden has the one in Palestine.

So yeah, people are going to be rightfully pissed. That doesn't mean they don't believe in a free Palestine; it just means they want to be free too and the hypocrisy is hurtful to say the least.

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Mariam making the saj. The reference video for this animation is from a few days ago in Gaza. I do not know if Mariam is still alive. Is she among the 1% of Gazans already killed? Will she be one of the many to succumb to disease and starvation?

I hope she is not, but my hope won’t keep her safe. The only thing that will ensure she grows up is a ceasefire and a free Palestine. Her glimpse of joy is so striking. I hope one day, she and the other children of Palestine will know many moments of joy uninterrupted by war, violence, or occupation.

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[ID: a screenshot from the website Queering The Map, with a pinpoint in Palestine. The pinpoint reads “i am trans, and i am Palestinian. i will not chose between my country and my queerness and i will not let colonisers erase one half of me so the other can be free. allah's love is for all”]

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Adam Husam Musalim loved to play basketball. Even while displaced, he played until he was k!lled by an !sraeli airstr!ke. He was in fifth grade and loved learning. He deserved to live.

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This is Amal and Ayul, twins from G@za who were k!lled along with ONE HUNDRED TWENTY members of their family. They deserved to live. As I drew them, I thought about how carefully someone must have dressed them. Who picked out the matching dresses and hairbands? Are they still alive? Even if they are, will they survive this genocide?