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Gaza: A Meditation on Spirit and Survival

M. Reza Behnam

The images that have emerged from Gaza reveal the anatomy of a desolate landscape that defies human comprehension. Nothing can prepare the conscience for the sheer suffocating scale of a seemingly endless treeless terrain overwhelmed with millions of tons of concrete and rebar.

There is a distinct agonizing geometry to the destruction of buildings folded upon themselves. The angles, lines and shapes of neighborhoods have been completely warped, creating a jarring unnatural landscape of ruins, where once familiar streets, blocks and landmarks are now unrecognizable. The steel and mortar that once housed generations of families, communal memories, bustling markets, and schools full of children eager to learn, have been leveled into a desolate sea of gray.

The human spirit cannot comprehend the reality of tens of thousands of Palestinians entombed beneath mountains of pulverized concrete. The very air of Gaza carries the heavy toxic dust of war and of extinguished lives.

To gaze upon the ruins, is to confront not only its physical erasure, but the malign systematic campaign of the Israeli regime to wholly erase Palestinian ethnic, cultural and national identity—the very definition of genocide.

Systematic and indiscriminate aerial campaigns have decimated entire family units across multiple generations, erasing entire family lineages. These attacks not only erase collective histories, they inflict profound trauma and deep psychological scars upon survivors.

The level of death, destruction and scale of human suffering is unparalleled in modern history. Survivors of this holocaust must navigate a daily visceral reality. Each day is a battle for survival against Israeli atrocities, extreme spatial restrictions and the distress of living among the collapsed skeletons of their destroyed homes and memories.

Because the oppressive realities of daily life rarely break through the filter of the legacy media, the public remains largely insulated from the true scale of the catastrophe. They are shielded from knowing, for example, that the widespread destruction of municipal water and sanitation infrastructure has resulted in raw untreated sewage flooding makeshift tents and displacement camps across Gaza. And that sweltering heat, piles of uncollected trash, and disease spread by rodents and insects have led to a public health crisis; made worse by Israel’s blockage of crucial medical supplies and other crucial aid.

Tel Aviv’s aim is to make life completely unlivable, to create unbearable conditions that do not allow for survival and dignity. Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said as much when he unveiled Israel’s plan for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza; a forced deportation ethnic cleansing scheme he described, in true Orwellian manner, as “voluntary migration.”

Since the so-called October 2025 ceasefire, violated by Israel 2,400 times, Gazans have been forced into an ever-shrinking sliver of their enclave. As Israel seeks to completely occupy Gaza, it has unilaterally expanded its concocted “yellow demarcation line,” effectively bringing some 64 percent under its control.

Earthen barriers and military bases constructed along the shifting yellow line, have walled off Palestinians from accessing their land and most of the strip. Those Gazans who come near the Israeli designated “no-go” zones are killed.

Israel continues to push deeper into Gaza, corralling two million Palestinians into 56 square miles of makeshift camps along the coast. Recently, Israeli prime minister and war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the military to seize 70 percent of Gaza, with 100 percent as the final objective.

Faced with a ruined landscape and realities that defy comprehension, Palestinians continue to demonstrate a spirit of defiance and unwavering hope. Proving that the human spirit cannot be crushed, they are actively trying to rebuild their lives.

Although Israel has tightly restricted the entry of essential construction material and heavy equipment, Gazans are repurposing rubble, crushing concrete and scrap metal to clear routes and to pave areas for tents and community kitchens. They use whatever they can find (iron, window and door frames) to make partially damaged structures habitable.

While agencies such as the United Nations Development Program estimate that clearing the debris will take years, true reconstruction must also address the monumental task of rebuilding the human spirit.

However, extolling Palestinian strength in coping with incredible hardships should not overshadow the cruelty of the conditions Israel has forced them to navigate and the horrendous injustice of their circumstances. Exhausted and terrified, they have no other choice but to live through and resist Israeli violence. Endurance—the very act of surviving—becomes an act of fierce resistance.

To comprehend the enormity of this 21st century tragedy, it is important to look beyond today’s stark ruins to the rich enduring legacy of Gaza’s more than 5,000 year history.

Since antiquity, Gaza has been a vital Mediterranean coastal hub, a rich oasis and crucial political crossroads connecting Africa and West Asia. This historical crossroads of civilization, positioned squarely on ancient trade routes, was repeatedly conquered and reshaped by successive empires, from the Romans, Persians to the Ottomans. To this day, it remains the key to war and peace in the region.

Gaza became part of the British empire, under the Mandate of Palestine, following World War I. Its administration passed to Egypt at the end of the Arab-Israel War in 1948.

Israel gained control over the strip as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, establishing civilian “settlements” in the territory. After 38 years of occupation, it ended its physical presence, evacuating settlements and withdrawing its military in 2005. However, by maintaining dominance over Gaza’s airspace, coastline and borders, Tel Aviv continued de facto control. In 2021, the barrier, dubbed the “iron wall,” constructed to surround Gaza, was officially completed, converting the strip into an “open-air prison.”

Since declaring statehood in 1948, Israel has waged 15 wars against the Palestinians in Gaza. The current unprecedented bombardment and siege is by far the longest and deadliest.

In addition, for more than three months, Tel Aviv and Washington have been engaged in a war to silence the Islamic Republic of Iran, a nation that has consistently answered the Palestinian call for justice, freedom and self-determination.

Israel’s prolonged, relentless war on Gaza is a testament to the moral failure of the international community, and an indictment of the American-led global order.

Recovery transcends physical reconstruction. It insists upon restoring human agency, guaranteeing fundamental rights, and honoring the inherent dignity of the Palestinian people.

[Dr. M. Reza Behnam is a political scientist who specializes in comparative politics with a focus on West Asia. Courtesy: CounterPunch, a U.S.-based independent left-wing magazine known for sharp commentary on war, imperialism, labour, environment, and civil liberties. It was co-founded by Alexander Cockburn and is currently led editorially by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank.]

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‘The Ceasefire Is a Joke’: Israeli Soldiers Describe Continued Targeted Killings of Palestinians in Gaza

The Cradle Newsdesk

Israeli forces continue to deliberately target and kill Palestinian civilians with snipers, drones, and airstrikes, while further expanding their occupation of territory in Gaza, despite the ceasefire that has been in place since last October, AP reported on 31 May.

“To call it a ceasefire is a joke,” one Israeli soldier told AP.

“We need to stop using this term,” another soldier told the news agency. “It’s not serving people who want to stop the war.”

The soldiers described how they shoot Palestinians for approaching the so-called yellow line dividing Gaza that was established as part of the ceasefire agreement reached seven months ago between Israel and Hamas.

The terms of the truce allowed Israeli troops to temporarily occupy the territory to the east of the line, roughly 50 percent of the strip. At the same time, Palestinians were confined to the remaining 50 percent to the west of the line.

“It was a jungle,” said one soldier deployed to Gaza recently. “After the ceasefire, the order was: If someone crosses the line, you shoot them,” he told AP.

One Israeli combat soldier described how members of his unit yelled in celebration and congratulated each other after shooting a Palestinian car driving near the yellow line, killing everyone inside.

The soldier said scenes like this had “become common” after the ceasefire took effect.

“In the weeks he was stationed in Gaza, he said, he saw soldiers relishing the chance to go after those who crossed–or came close to crossing–the so-called yellow line,” AP wrote.

In many cases, Israeli forces have failed or refused to clearly mark the yellow line, leading to confusion among Palestinians living near it and giving Israeli troops the opportunity to kill them for sport.

AP has documented cases of Israeli soldiers shooting Palestinian civilians, including children playing, near the yellow line. The soldiers said it “felt like the killings never stopped” after the ceasefire was announced.

Since the ceasefire went into effect, more than 900 people have been killed in Gaza, including dozens shot near the yellow line, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Separate data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S. nonprofit, said Israeli troops killed 73 Palestinians near the yellow line in April, a 25 percent increase from January, when 58 were killed.

Israel has also escalated its killings through airstrikes in recent months. An internal report circulated among aid groups last month said Israel has become “increasingly proactive” with its airstrikes, AP added.

On 26 May, the night before the Eid al-Adha holiday, three Israeli strikes killed 12 Palestinians, according to UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (UNHROPT). A 14-year-old girl injured in that day’s strikes later died. A 30-year-old woman and a five-year-old girl were killed in the same strike.

“Since the announcement of a ceasefire, at least 32 children and eight women have been killed in Israeli attacks in which fatalities were exclusively women and children,” the UNHROPT stated.

“Our concerns about the commission of war crimes in Gaza have not stopped,” said Ajith Sunghay, the head of UNHROPT.

“It is difficult enough to navigate life in chronic displacement in the ruins of Gaza, under blockade, and after Israeli attacks virtually destroyed every essential system: healthcare, education, food production, law enforcement, and civil order. Continuing military attacks on a population living under these conditions is unthinkable,” he stated

Spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, Mahmoud Basal, said on 31 May that at least 29 Palestinians, including many women and children, have been killed since the start of Eid al-Adha in ongoing Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, while warning of severe shortages and calling for urgent international action to protect civilians and support Gaza’s humanitarian and service sectors.

At least 930 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since the announcement of the so-called ceasefire on 11 October, 2025.

Israel has also occupied additional territory in Gaza beyond the 50 percent temporarily allowed by the truce agreement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged last week that his troops occupy at least 60 percent of the strip. He said he had given the order for the army to expand it further, to 70 percent, as an additional step toward occupying all of Gaza.

During a speech at the Ein Prat Leadership Academy, one audience member shouted that Israel should take “100 percent” of Gaza. Netanyahu responded, saying that “We’re going in order,” suggesting this was the long-term goal of his government.

“First 70 percent … we’ll start with that.”

Religious nationalist Israeli Jews in Netanyahu’s cabinet hope to colonize all of Gaza by ethnically cleansing it of its Palestinian inhabitants and building settlements for Jews like those they have illegally built in the occupied Palestinian West Bank since 1967.

[Courtesy: The Cradle, an online news magazine covering the geopolitics of West Asia from within the region.]