Malnourished starving children in Gaza

[babyproblems]

The photos that appeared this morning on my news updates of mothers holding their children, dying of starvation and extreme malnutrition in Gaza have absolutely broken my heart. I am not particularly news focused, of course I’ve followed it all but this morning it has stopped me in my tracks and took my breath away. As a mother of a 3yo DS who is sleeping peacefully in his bedroom, whilst we have a fridge full of food downstairs and a life of peace, I feel so sorry that those poor mothers and children are living this hell so undeserved and also so so lucky we have the peace we do…
I don’t really know what the point of my post is; I suppose I’m screaming When Will This End inside and want to tell everyone to not take the freedom and peace we have for granted; use your right to vote and use your privilege to make informed choices that steer the world away from conflict towards peace…

Sending a handhold to all the mothers’ whose lives are not being lived in peace and whose children are suffering 🕊️💔

I believe that some on this thread are simply ragebait trolls (I don’t mean you @ThisNattyTurtle) and we need to ignore them to protect our own mental health (and souls!) and don’t allow them to distract us with their deflection, deceit and what I can only charitably assume is their own brainwashing.

Dr. Mark Perlmutter, Jewish-American orthopaedic surgeon and former President of the American Association of Neurological and Orthopaedic surgeons, served in Gaza with his gold star of David round his neck. His testimony is absolutely heartbreaking and he writes he saw "distinct signs of genocide" and he saw many many children deliberately shot by Israeli soldiers in the head and chest.

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/11/surgeons_in_gaza

I believe so too . I have had to switch off from them. There is a common tone and arrogance.

The common tone may also be because a significant chunk of them (not all) are mercenaries paid to post pro-Israel content and thus sing from the same hymn sheet.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-23695896.amp

From 2013, by the by.

I’d rather think that than God forbid they
are mothers !

If any of them are paid to post pro-Israel content, I really feel like they need some more training or some sort of appraisal at this point because so many of the points I’ve seen so far lack any real evidence and/or logic. And then every time I or someone else asks for evidence or sources or reasoning, so many (not all!) seem to disappear or ignore the question completely or start name calling. Which is fine to be fair as it just supports the idea that their views are coming from a place of hatred and not from reason. My feedback would be it is really hard to ‘switch sides’ if I don’t get an evidence based, logical argument to sway my opinion.

What can we do to help? I am pro Israel and was appalled by 7/10 but starving kids is horrendous

https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/gaza-crisis-appeal

I've worked for a lot of NGOs and the Red Cross is probably the best. You can't go wrong donating.

How is Israel justifying their ban on foreign reporters entering Gaza? This information bias could be cleared up by allowing some independent on-the-ground scrutiny, what do they have to hide? - I can't help but feel we have not seen the worst of what is going on and in years to come they will uncover more horrific deeds supported by the Israeli Gov.

Please email your MP also

Can we start a letter campaign to MPs? If each of us sent one and then asked 5 friends to do the same and pass on to 5 others, surely that might build some political pressure? I'm happy to draft one and post a link to it tomorrow, or very happy to sign someone else's?

Amnesty international, oxfam and save the children have templates, I believe.

The baby in the images that were in the media over the last few days, suffers from cerebal palsy and a number of other disorders, and has relied on nutritional supplements since birth.
Clearly, having a child with such significant needs in the current situation in Gaza is horrendous, and he - and his family - are suffering.

But it's not the same thing as a healthy child who is that thin simply from outright starvation and lack of calories. His mother and older brother, visible in some of the images, are a normal weight.

I believe that the current release of these images, designed to create the impresson that children are starving to death en masse, was to help shore up anti-Israel sentiment during the negotiations. Which have since failed - Hamas remains in place, and the suffering continues.

I will also say that Israel taking Hamas out of the aid distribution pipeline massively weakened them, hence the subsequent onslaught of claims of massacres at distrubution centres.
A lot of the aid was meant to be distributed by the UN - Hamas proceeded to attack them, it became too dangerous, and the current disaster unfolded.

But it isn’t just one photo of one child that is being circulated as proof of the issue is it? There are photos of other children, accounts from charities, hospital workers and NGOs, plus admission from Israel that ‘aid corridors’ must be opened.

It is a real low point, I feel, that people are looking at victims in a war zone and judging whether they look thin enough to pity. Would you like their before and after weight listed below the image too, just to check?

If you look at images of Gaza before the war v now, read independent accounts of what is happening in hospitals there, read NGO reports or news articles, it is unbelievable that you can still shrug it off as some sort of propaganda campaign. This is how war crimes are going to continue to be committed.

Re your aid comments, please provide sources for this version of events. Because my sources point to Israel’s army killing aid workers. Any independent, trustworthy sources will do. Happy to provide sources if that would help.

My understanding is that the images are of children with genetic or other illnesses. And I'm not denying that being in this situation, displaced and with an insecure food supply and inadequate medical care, isn't horrendous and gravely dangerous for these children, btw. Of course not.

Re your aid comments, please provide sources for this version of events. Because my sources point to Israel’s army killing aid workers. Any independent, trustworthy sources will do. Happy to provide sources if that would help.

I suspect that we might never consider each other's sources independent and trustworthy.

Okay, so we can agree that there is a famine and that more broadly innocent people are suffering? So images/reports/info about the situation in Gaza are correct but are also being used to fuel anti Israel sentiment?

I’m sorry you’ve already closed yourself off from evidence that may be valuable/informative. I have not - I’m always looking to understand the other side/a different perspective so please share any links you can and I’ll approach them with an open mind.

It’s incomprehensible. I can’t believe I’m living in the same lifetime as this is going on. They’re trying to desensitise us to sheer horror.

Why are you here

it’s late in the thread and this has already devolved into… this. But I’m saying it because in a tiny way this is a thing I can do

Let’s find out - at the moment you look like you are making stuff up - what do you have to lose by sharing your sources. You currently lack credibility

It's this dehumanisation of another group, the venom that seethes out of your posts about the Palestinian people is disgusting.

When people ask how something as awful as the Holocaust could have happened, it is because one group of people have come to see another as less than human.

You need to have a good look in the mirror and wake up to what you are.

Absolutely, this ^

Exactly. Wonder if she would keep her emotions in check if it was her child, or those of her friends and family.

I completely agree with you but there will be posters on here immediately saying that we should let kids starve because of October 7 or Hamas and therefore don’t believe a genocide is happening and even if it is Israel is 100% allowed to bomb the shit out of Gaza in ‘defence’. Also if you mention children being innocent in this you get Oh but the Bibas children were all killed on October 7th it’s justice.