08/18/2025
Free Palestine
Save the children & the parents too
“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in seven pounds of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ I’m a humanitarian aid worker. Why would there even be a limit on food? I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate.
I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening. And I say this as a pediatric ICU doctor who sees children die as part of my work. Among our own staff we have doctors and nurses who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted. They’re living in tents. Some of them have lost fifteen, twenty members of their families. In the hospital there are kids maimed by airstrikes: missing arms, missing legs, third degree burns. Often there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!”
I hate to only focus on the kids, because nobody should be starving. But the kids, it just haunts you in a different way. When my two months were finished, I didn’t want to leave. It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in nearly twenty years of humanitarian assignments. But I felt ashamed. Ashamed to leave my Palestinian colleagues, who were some of the most beautiful and compassionate people that I’ve ever met. I was ashamed as an American, as a human being, that we’ve been unable to stop something that is so clearly a genocide.
I remember when our bus pulled out of the buffer zone. Out the window on one side I could see Rafah, which was nothing but rubble. On the other side was lush, green Israel. When we exited the gate, the first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers, sitting at a table, eating lunch. I’ve never felt so nauseous seeing a table full of food.”
- Aqsa Durrani is a pediatric doctor and board member of Doctors Without Borders USA, with nearly twenty years of experience in humanitarian projects.
On the Humans of New York page, you can read stories from their current series featuring the Palestinian staff of Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF in Gaza.
There is also a new article in today's New York Times about "The Trauma of Childhood in Gaza," which recounts: "There are about 1.1 million children in the territory, and nearly all require mental health or psychosocial support, according to research by the United Nations. Most of them have been out of school for nearly two years. After Israel’s 11-week blockade on food this year, all children younger than 5 are at risk of acute malnutrition, the U.N. said."
It notes that more than 18,000 Palestinians under the age of 18 -- two-thirds of them under 13 -- have been killed in Gaza since Israel's military operation began in October 2023. 'Normal markers of childhood are gone, replaced by hunger, fear and all-consuming trauma,' said James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF who has regularly visited Gaza throughout the war. 'This war is being waged as if childhood itself has no place in Gaza.'"
You can read the article via a free link at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/world/middleeast/gaza-children-school-play.html?unlocked_article_code=1.eU8.sdCE.I54sHOB1P-AY&smid=url-share
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For ways to help the children of Gaza:
- Donate to UNICEF's Gaza Program at https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support
- Donate to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund at https://www.pcrf.net
- Contact your elected officials and urge them to condemn Netanyahu’s plan to escalate attacks and occupy Gaza City and to work toward a ceasefire that respects international law, protects the people of Gaza, and includes the release of all remaining hostages -- you can use the action alert on 5 Calls at https://5calls.org/issue/gaza-palestinian-israeli-war/
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For a touching picture book about a young girl living through airstrikes on Gaza, we recommend "Sitti's Bird: A Gaza Story" for ages 5 and up at https://amzn.to/451j0Xe
For more picture books about the experiences of Palestinian-Americans, check out "A Map for Falasteen" (https://amzn.to/3SYrPJW), "Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine" (https://amzn.to/43HeV8l), and the upcoming "Everything Grows in Jiddo's Garden" (https://amzn.to/3HgFoCe), all for ages 4 and up
For both real-life and fictional stories of Mighty Girls living during wartime, visit our “War & Conflict” book section at https://www.amightygirl.com/books/social-issues/war-conflict
