Palestinian rescues a child wounded by an Israeli strike on central Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. Photo: AP
Suleiman, a young boy, was forced to flee Khan Younis in a wheelchair. “My dream was to play football, but the occupation army did not let me play. They cut off my legs.... They stole my dream.”1
Six-year-old Hind has been missing for over four days. When the Palestinian Red Crescent last spoke to her by phone, she was in her family’s car screaming for help. Six members of her family had already been murdered by Israeli fire and as she cried that a tank was getting closer, her phone went dead.2
A bright 10-year old girl lay in a hospital bed. She’d been accepted to an international educational exchange program and was supposed to be in Japan. Instead, her leg had been badly wounded by an Israeli air strike and she was having to decide whether to amputate it or not.3
Are these stories the exception? No! An average of more than 10 children lose one or both legs every single day of this war to U.S.-made bombs and weapons. Many amputations have been performed without anesthesia due to shortages of medical supplies caused by Israel’s U.S.-backed blockade of food, medicines, water, fuel and other needed supplies.
And these maimed children are but some of the victims of Israel’s war on the Palestinian children of Gaza: 11,500 have been killed, at least 8,663 have been injured, 17,000 have been separated from their parents, and some 900,000 have been displaced from their homes. Most have been severely traumatized.4
Children wounded by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in Khan Younis, December 5, 2023. Photo: AP
Israel claims they are aiming to eliminate Hamas to justify their genocidal war in Gaza. Are all these thousands of children killed, maimed, and traumatized "Hamas terrorists"? No!
Is this just Israel’s fault, because the U.S. really cares about Palestinians and is pressuring Israel to protect the Palestinian people? No!
From day one right up to today, the U.S. has given its full backing to Israel. It supplies the bombs, the shells, the other munitions. It gives Israel military intelligence. It has deployed U.S. ships and planes to the region to back Israel. It’s attacking other forces in the region to protect Israel. It vetoes every resolution in the United Nations against Israel and even for a ceasefire. Now it has even cut funding to the United Nations agency which provides humanitarian aid to the Palestinians—at a time when nearly the whole population in Gaza faces starvation and disease!
No, the U.S. rulers are lying about their concern for people every day! These children and the people of Gaza are all victims of a genocide made in Israel and the USA!
What This Situation Demands
Bob Avakian, the revolutionary leader and architect of the new communism, has said the following:
And once you do look, then it is imperative for you to act… and to seek out the deeper causes of—and the solutions to—the crimes that have impelled you to act.