01/07/2025
Gaza by the Numbers: A Reality We Must Not Ignore
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was established. While for some this marked a moment of triumph, for Palestinians, it became the start of an unending tragedy. Known as Al Nakba or โThe Catastrophe,โ over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes, and more than 500 villages were depopulated or destroyed. Since then, the people of Palestineโespecially in the Gaza Stripโhave lived under military occupation, siege, and war. Whatโs happening in Gaza is not a movie or a distant documentary; it is a brutal, ongoing reality.
A Humanitarian Catastrophe by the Numbers
The website Gaza by the Numbers presents sobering statistics about the human toll in Gaza:
Over 50,000 Palestinians killed since October 2023, including at least 15,000 children and 10,000 women.
85,000+ injured, many with life-changing disabilities.
70% of Gazaโs homes destroyed or severely damaged.
2 million displaced, the majority of Gazaโs population.
100% of the population facing food insecurity, with famine already reported in northern Gaza (source: UN OCHA).
These are not numbers from fiction. These are lives lost, homes shattered, and futures stolen.
Over the decades, Israel has continuously violated international humanitarian and human rights law:
Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) โ Article 49 prohibits the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into the territory it occupies. Israel has built over 250 illegal settlements in the West Bank, considered a war crime under international law.
UN Resolution 194 (1948) โ Affirms the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. This right has been denied for over 75 years.
UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) โ Calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories after the Six-Day War. This remains unfulfilled.
International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) โ The deliberate targeting of civilians and use of collective punishment (as seen in Gaza) are prosecutable crimes under international law.
International Court of Justice (ICJ) โ In 2004, ruled Israelโs West Bank barrier illegal. The ruling was ignored.
Israelโs blockade of Gaza since 2007 is widely considered a form of collective punishment, prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The targeting of civilian infrastructureโschools, hospitals, press offices, and places of worshipโhas drawn international condemnation but rarely accountability.
Why Filipinos Should Care?
As Filipinos, we know the value of freedom. We resisted colonization, dictatorship, and foreign aggression. From the Katipunan Revolution to the People Power Revolution, we have fought for justice and the right to live with dignity.
We must extend the same solidarity to the people of Gaza. This is not about religion or geopoliticsโit is about humanity. It is about children bombed in their sleep, mothers giving birth in tents, fathers digging through rubble with bare hands, and an entire population struggling to survive under siege.
Let us not be silent. Let us not be neutral in the face of genocide. History will ask: What did you do when Gaza was burning?
We may be thousands of miles away, but our voiceโour shared human voiceโcan echo through international forums, prayers, social platforms, and communities. We owe it to the 37,000+ lives lost, to the mothers who buried their children, and to the children who will grow up never knowing peace.
To be Filipino is to know the struggle for freedom. Let us stand in solidarity with those still fighting for theirs.
