This blog post was shared as an audio message by the Cairdeas lead in Gaza, Dr Khamis Elessi. This is his message that he would like to share with all peace-loving people worldwide.

Hello, my dear friends, all of you, ladies and gentlemen. This is Dr Khamis Elessi, speaking to you from Gaza City. I have been living here in Gaza City since I was born here, but never in my whole life that I have seen something like this. 

Not even my parents, not even my friends, not even senior people have ever seen something that we are experiencing at the moment. Since six months, to the moment, Gaza strip has been subjected to the most brutal, barbaric, relentless attacks from air, land, and sea from the Israeli forces. 

Six months till this moment, 2.4 million Palestinians, who are being stranded for the last seventeen years in Gaza Strip under strict Israeli siege, have been subjected to the most brutal killing machines ever been witnessed in the last 200 years, more than what has been seen in World War II. Since six months till this moment, 2.4 million Palestinians have been forced to evacuate their homes at least six to eight times, evacuate their shelters, or the remaining parts of their shelters. Since six months till this moment, 2.4 million Palestinians have been subjected to the most moral and the most mental pressure ever experienced worldwide because of the intensity of the bombardment, because the amount of bombs dropped on every metre of Gaza Strip. 

Gaza Strip has witnessed relentless attacks, 24/7, 24 hours, seven days a week, leaving more than 33,000 Palestinians killed, leaving more than 75,000 Palestinians injured. The vast majority of them are women and children, seventy-five percent women and children, and the remaining of them are elderly people or people engaged in fighting. The rest, the vast majority of Palestinians who were killed or injured do not have anything to do with fighting or with militance. Unfortunately, since six months till this moment, more than 80,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished completely and more than 300,000 have been damaged partially or mildly. 

Over the last six months, more than 30 hospitals, out of the 36 hospitals all over Gaza Strip, has been made non-functional, uncapable of providing any sort of medical care for patients, and more than two million Palestinians are unable to access any healthcare of any type in their local residence. Since six months until this moment, more than 400 healthcare professionals have been killed, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and aid workers. 

Since six months till this moment, more than 160 journalist have been shot dead, more than 140 UNRWA staff, United Nations staff, has been killed as well. In addition to the bombardment, to the military onslaught on Gaza, there was a new weapon used on people who remained in Gaza City, which is starvation, starvation war. 

So since three months till this moment, Gaza and the northern part of Gaza have been subjected to the most brutal starvation techniques, leading to famine among children and elderly, especially the fragile population and the marginalised population. So people were forced to eat cow’s feed, which is the only thing available on the market and if, if they still have the money to but it. 
Unfortunately, prices have risen by twenty times, thirty times, forty times sometimes. So leading, just to give you one example, flour before the war cost one-third of a dollar, and now one kilo of flour costs $35, so that means 1,000% times increase in the price of flour, almost 500% increase in the price of rice, almost 300% increase in the price of other things. And name it, everything has increased between twenty times and 100 times the original price, and people here are running very low on money, so they could barely afford to buy food or buy anything, especially those who are not employed by Ramallah government, or Gaza government, or UNRWA, or United Nations, or international staff. 

So those are left behind with no money and no food, starving, and we have witnessed so far the documented death of 28 Palestinian children who died of starvation and dehydration. What we need now? We need to stop this onslaught and we need to go back to peace and order, because peace is the only way that Palestinians and Israelis and Americans and British can survive on this earth, like brothers and sisters. And we need to bring medicines to those in need, especially patients with cancer, patients with chronic illnesses. 

Imagine I’ve been helping at Al Shifa [since this recording this whole medical complex has been completely destroyed] and we’ve treated lots of children. Massive burns, that I have never seen before and without even morphine, and we know that those kids are going to die today or tomorrow because of the intensity and massive spread of burns all over their bodies and the depth of that burn. But unfortunately, even though we know they are going to die, they die in severe agony; so we do not have morphine, we do not have any strong analgesics to provide to them to alleviate their pain and suffering. And if they are going to die, there is no place for them to die because their families were kicked out of their homes many times, and their homes were burned so that they make sure that when they come back to their homes, they will find no home to stay in. 

This is the strategy that they kick them from their homes, they burn their homes, so that they will be forced not to come back anymore to their homes or remain in places. Roads have been uprooted from their places so no ambulance can reach for the injured patients. Hospitals have been damaged, drugs have been banned, food has been banned. Electricity has been cut, communication has been cut, telephone communication has been cut. So, it is an intentional way of killing as many Palestinians as they can in the shortest time period while the world is watching. 

Gratefully, the world is starting to wake up and see these massacres and they are calling for ceasefire, immediate ceasefire. But unfortunately the Israeli side is not stopping the killing machines all over Gaza Strip. And we hope that you and many free people worldwide, many peace-loving people worldwide, will act immediately to stop this onslaught on Gaza Strip and to open borders, and to allow Palestinians, women, children, girls, to live as equal as other international people in their countries. In peace, in order with neighbours, and in peace and in order with everyone worldwide.