I witnessed genocide in the 21st century, and so did you
'Never again.' That was the promise after Rwanda, after Bosnia, after every atrocity that shamed the conscience of the world.
And yet, here we are 600 days into Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza and the promise feels hollow. The world is not only watching genocide happen in real time, it's letting it continue.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 54,470 Palestinians have been killed and 124,693 wounded since Oct 7, 2023.
The Gaza Government Media Office puts the death toll even higher, more than 61,700, including those still missing and presumed dead under the rubble. Entire families erased. Generations lost.
This is not a 'war.' This is genocide, systematic, deliberate and sustained. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 54,470 Palestinians have been killed and 124,693 wounded since Oct 7, 2023.
Genocide Isn't Always Gas Chambers
The 1948 UN Genocide Convention defines genocide as acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
It doesn't require gas chambers or death camps. Genocide can look like a 2,000-pound bomb dropped on a refugee camp.
It can look like deliberate starvation, as the World Food Programme has documented in northern Gaza, where children are now dying of hunger.
It can look like the complete destruction of every university in Gaza. It can sound like a political leader calling an entire people 'human animals.'
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that acts committed by Israel in Gaza 'appear to be capable' of falling under the Genocide Convention. It ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide.
Instead, the killing escalated.
Hospitals have been bombed. Only 17 out of 36 are still partially functioning. Gaza's health system has collapsed. Doctors are operating without anaesthetics. Women are giving birth in tents. And every day, more civilians are forced to flee, often for the third or fourth time, only to be targeted again.
More than 1.7 million people are now displaced. That's 80 percent of Gaza's entire population.
A Genocide Streamed Live
This may be the most documented genocide in history and the most ignored.
Every atrocity is recorded. Every scream is live-streamed. We have voice notes from children trapped under rubble. Journalists broadcasting with trembling hands, not knowing if they'll live to file their next story. Photos of tiny bodies wrapped in white. Names erased, faces unforgettable.
We don't need tribunals or commissions to tell us what happened. We saw it. We see it every day.
And yet, the world especially the so-called international community remains paralysed.
Western governments continue to sell weapons and provide diplomatic cover. UN resolutions are blocked. Human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Médecins Sans Frontières have sounded every possible alarm. But the killing continues.
Social media, one of the few platforms where Palestinian voices can reach the world, is being policed and censored. Accounts are shadow banned. Images are flagged. The algorithm, like the institutions of global governance, works against justice.
A Global Moral Crisis
I write this as one of millions who have watched this genocide unfold, not from a war zone, but from the safety of screens. We donate. We protest. We write. And yet, like many around the world, we are left with a burning sense of helplessness.
Why, we ask, can't the world stop this?
The truth is painful: it's not that the world doesn't know. It's that those in power don't care. And the rest of us haven't done enough to make them care.
That's why history repeats itself. Not because we forget, but because we remember and still do nothing.
Neutrality in the face of genocide is complicity. Silence is not safety. It is surrender.
You Can Still Choose a Side
If you've read this far, it means you care. And caring is a start. But it cannot end there.
Speak up. Share the truth. Amplify Palestinian voices especially those in Gaza who are risking everything to document what's happening. Support humanitarian organisations still working to get food, medicine and clean water to survivors. Even small donations can save lives.
Think critically about where your money goes. Many corporations are profiting from this genocide through surveillance tech, weapons, or complicity in the occupation. Boycott them. Demand ethical accountability from businesses and institutions.
Join protests, online or in the streets. Make your presence felt. Make your outrage visible.
And above all, hold your leaders accountable. Write letters. Sign petitions. Demand that your government wherever you are stop sending weapons and start supporting justice.
This is not a faraway conflict. This is a global moral crisis. Gaza is a mirror showing us what kind of world we live in. And what kind of people we choose to be.
Final Words
600 days have passed. That is 600 days too long.
I witnessed genocide in the 21st century. And so did you. The question is: What will we do about it? Palestinian children posing with their pots and pans as they wait at a hot meal distribution point in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Photo by Eyad Baba/AFP
Revda Selver is Friends of Palestine Public Relation and Media Executive. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Sinar Daily.
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