People are uploading their wills and last words to their social media accounts, says Gaza writer Muhammad Shehada.
Israel’s military on Friday ordered 1.1 million civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate “southwards” in just 24 hours, a demand that aid groups say will cause untold human suffering. The ultimatum comes ahead of an expected ground invasion of the besieged coastal enclave, where authorities say 1,537 people have been killed since Israel began devastating airstrikes in retaliation for a Hamas attack in which militants killed 1,300 people and took some 150 hostages.
We begin today’s show with Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza, chief of communications at Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, columnist atCan you describe what’s happening on the ground? And first respond to this order from the Israeli government that half the population of Gaza, 1.1 million people, must leave the north and head south, and they gave them 24 hours last night to do it.I’ve been through at least six Israeli military operations, or even more.
At the same time, I’m aware that there is some pressure from European officials on the Israeli government discreetly to sort of backtrack this decision, but they are telling me, quite obviously, that it’s unlikely they would have much influence on Israel without the U.S. coming on board. And until now, the Biden administration hasn’t made its mind up about an event that’s way, way more horrendous than the Palestinian Nakba.
But what I find most striking are two things. Number one, European diplomats in the Occupied Territories are telling me that their leaders, their bosses, their foreign ministries, for the last at least five to six days, were not bringing Gaza up to their Israeli counterparts at all. That’s the same with the U.S. government. They’re not bringing what’s Israel’s conduct in Gaza at all, aside from the issue of the humanitarian corridor. This might change now with the forcible transfer of 1.
I get a lot of questions from my colleagues, family and people I love in Gaza, asking, “Are we going to stay alive?” One of my friends, she says, “I just gave birth about a month ago. My baby is clinging to me.
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