By Mosab Abu Toha (above), a Palestinian poet from Gaza. Follow him on Twitter here.
I’m sick of journalists who keep asking us if we have “hope after the ceasefire.”
Stop calling it a ceasefire.
It is not a ceasefire when thousands of Palestinian bodies, many of them children, remain buried beneath the rubble for months, while Israel continues to block the entry of the heavy equipment needed to retrieve them.
It is not a ceasefire when the Rafah border crossing remains sealed.
It’s not a ceasefire when reconstruction materials are blocked, when even basic necessities like tents, mattresses, blankets, and clothing are not allowed in for displaced families.
It is not a ceasefire when thousands of critically ill and wounded people are trapped in Gaza, unable to be evacuated for treatment because of Israel’s ongoing, brutal siege.
It is not a ceasefire when international journalists are barred from entering Gaza to document life on the ground, especially after the so-called ceasefire, while the funerals of hundreds of Palestinians found dead in the streets go uncovered, even as those same journalists are able to report freely from just 70 kilometers away in Jerusalem and other places.
It is not a ceasefire when displaced families cannot return to what little remains of their homes and neighborhoods.
It is not a ceasefire when more than 10,000 Palestinians are still missing, and the world remains silent, doing nothing to find them, to bring them home, or at the very least, to return them to the tents where their loved ones still wait.
It is not a ceasefire when Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinian families, stealing their homes, their land, and their futures with impunity.
And it is not peace, not even close, until Israeli war criminals are held accountable for crimes against humanity, and until the Palestinian people gain their full, inalienable rights under international law.
Only when Palestinians are free will there be real peace.
Radical Discipleship 