Dozens of my family have been killed by Israel in Gaza, and now Ziyad, too. Only one thing gives me solace

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

1. Cont. horrors of Israeli occupation and genocide in Gaza

(cont…)

My family’s story echoes those of countless families across Gaza whose lives have been shrouded in the darkness of this genocide. I believe that to tell their stories is to defy the darkness. To demand justice is not to ask for charity – it is a moral obligation. My family was not collateral damage. They were teachers, doctors, students, engineers, social workers, mothers and children – each one snuffed out too early.

What offers me solace is that, in the face of this unimaginable cruelty, Palestinians still run to save one another. In pitch darkness, even amid falling rubble and suffocating dust, the light of Palestinian dignity refuses to be extinguished. These lights call all of us to be witnesses to the brutality, and are lights of hope that the suffering of Palestinians can be brought to an end immediately.

—Ghada Ageel, a third-generation Palestinian refugee, worked as a translator for the Guardian in Gaza from 2000 to 2006. She is visiting professor at the department of political science at the University of Alberta