Gaza--Where the Dead Are in a Better Place Than the Living
Narratives, especially those shaped by powerful political forces, can obscure the truth of what is happening on the ground. But as the months and years pass, the full scale of the devastation in Gaza will become impossible to deny. The available digital documentation, the survivors' stories, and even the testimonies of those who took part in the violence themselves will make it clear. The truth of Gaza is breaking through, and it is a truth that no narrative, no matter how carefully crafted, can mask.
This month, The Guardian reported on a documentary featuring Israeli soldiers who carried out the war in Gaza. These soldiers, speaking on the record, provided devastating accounts of a breakdown in norms and legal constraints. Their testimonies will corroborate what human rights organizations, the United Nations, and independent NGOs have been reporting for years: that the violence in Gaza has been deliberate, systematic, and designed to wipe out not just Hamas but an entire civilian population. This is not just a military operation. This is a crime.
More than two million people in Gaza have been subjected to every form of violence imaginable. They have been starved, tortured, maimed, and killed in waves of attacks that often target civilians without regard for their involvement in the conflict. Many of those who survived one wave of violence and forced displacement wish they had died with those who were lost before them. In Gaza, the dead are, tragically, in a better place than the living.
This kind of mentality leads to a battlefield where civilians are often the primary targets. One soldier described how civilians—men, women, and children—were killed simply for moving in a way that aroused suspicion. Walking too fast, walking too slow, even moving in groups—all were enough to be considered "military threats" and lead to arbitrary execution.
What makes this even more horrifying is the confirmation that Israeli soldiers routinely used Palestinians as human shields—a practice known as the "mosquito protocol." Civilians were forced to walk through tunnels, their movements tracked by their own phones, to map out military infrastructure. This is a clear violation of international law and human rights, but the soldiers who spoke out reported that it was accepted as routine by their superiors. Such practices are not the actions of a military defending itself—they are the actions of a state waging a systematic campaign of terror.
These testimonies were not the rantings of a few rogue soldiers, but reflections of the broader strategy that governed the war. The use of human shields, the targeting of civilians, the arbitrary executions—all of this reflects a military operation that has gone beyond the rules of engagement, beyond the laws of war, and into a realm where the dehumanization of Palestinians was a core part of the mission. This is not an isolated incident; it is the modus operandi of a military machine designed to eliminate a population, not just militarily, but socially, emotionally, and psychologically.
The scale of the violence is staggering. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began—most of them civilians. Yet even those who survive are left to bear a unique kind of trauma. Survivors have been left in a limbo of displacement, hunger, and constant terror, unable to rebuild their lives in the wake of bombings, invasions, and airstrikes. Many have been rendered homeless, jobless, and hopeless—living in a state of perpetual survival, not living at all.
Israeli officials continue to defend their actions, citing the threat posed by Hamas and the embedded nature of its forces within civilian infrastructure. However, these justifications do not hold up when the numbers and the testimony from the ground are considered. A UN commission has already concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide, and the rhetoric from Israeli leaders, including President Isaac Herzog, has further reinforced the notion that all Palestinians were complicit in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Herzog’s words—that "an entire nation is responsible"—created the ideological foundation for the military’s actions. This is the language of collective punishment, the language of dehumanization, and it has led directly to the destruction of Gaza.
The human cost of this war is not just in the dead. It is also in the living, whose lives have been shattered beyond recognition. The people of Gaza, those who remain, w
ill have to rebuild their lives and their communities, but the psychological scars—fear, grief, and trauma—will last much longer than any physical reconstruction. For them, survival is not just a daily battle against bombs and bullets; it is a battle against despair itself.
In the months and years to come, the full truth of Gaza will be exposed. The survivors, the soldiers who took part in the violence, and the overwhelming evidence of atrocities committed will leave no room for denial. Gaza will stand as a testament to the human capacity for cruelty, but also to the resilience of a people who, despite everything, continue to endure.
The world cannot afford to look away. The time for equivocation is over. The crimes against humanity that have unfolded in Gaza must be acknowledged, and those responsible must be held accountable. The survivors deserve justice, and the world has a duty to ensure that such horrors are never repeated.
The truth shall emerge.
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