There are no safe-zones during a genocide

"Every bombed village is my hometown.” —James Baldwin

After systematically pushing Palestinians into a so-called “safe zone” in al-Mawasi, an enclave in Khan Younis, Israel bombed the tent encampment, killing at least 40 people. The Sept 10th massacre created 9-meter (30-foot) deep craters, wounding at least another 65 people. Desperate scenes of Palestinian civil defense and family members trying to recover the remains streamed across social media immediately following the bombing — as they have every day since October 7, 2023.

Attacks like the Sept 10th massacre have been routine and expansive across Gaza for almost a year. This map provides a detailed assessment of damage and destruction to structures within the Gaza Strip, based on UNOSAT satellite imagery collected over various dates, including July 6, 2024, and compared to previous images from May 1, 2023, to May 3, 2024. The analysis by UNOSAT reveals that heavy Israeli bombardment destroyed some 46,223 structures and severely damaged another 18,478 severely. The intentional destruction of Palestinian infrastructure by Israeli bulldozers and aerial assaults has moderately damaged another 55,954 and possibly another 35,754 — totaling 156,409 affected structures. This damage represents approximately 63% of the total structures in the Gaza Strip, with an estimated 215,137 housing units impacted. While the breadth of devastation is horrific and beyond imagination, it is well surpassed by the evils of the intention underpinning this destruction: the erasure of a people.

[ For the GSC’s interactive version of this map, click here ]

The suggestion that Israel would create "safe-zones" is a liberal talking point designed to obfuscate the very nature of genocide: Genocides are designed to erase, not preserve, humanitarian safe-zones. They target both people and their shelters, like hospitals and schools, to remove any chance of survival. By destroying sanctuaries, genocides ensure that the targeted group has no refuge, intensifying the violence and suppression.

Throughout this process, Israeli forces have systematically destroyed the Palestinian health system in Gaza. Hospitals and clinics, already operating under very strained conditions, face increased difficulties in delivering care due to damaged facilities, a severe lack of medical supplies and fuel, and the overwhelming number of injured and ill people in need of care. The intentional dismantling of the health system is a critical element in the broader context of systemic oppression and genocide. By targeting the essential infrastructure and human resources, the colonizer not only inflicts immediate physical harm but also systematically undermines the Indigenous community's capacity to respond to and recover from the crisis, exacerbating suffering and death.

As of September 10th, 2024, an estimated 1.9 million people, or 90% of Gaza's population, are internally displaced, with many experiencing repeated displacements. Consider this alongside Israel’s restriction of humanitarian aid delivery, the destruction of infrastructure, and access restrictions, with only 69 humanitarian trucks entering Gaza daily in August, compared to a pre-crisis average of 500; it is clear Israel is utilizing both dramatic, daily violence and bureaucratic processes to facilitate death, disease, and starvation. Living-giving aid has also been disrupted by attacks on humanitarian aid workers trying to deliver resources. The United Nations's Food Security and Nutrition Clusters are struggling due to Israel restricting access: over 1 million people did not receive food rations in August. Continuous displacement disrupts nutrition site access and distribution, affecting service delivery.

It is clear Israel’s intentional widespread destruction of infrastructure in Gaza was designed to have severe consequences for the Palestinians trapped there. With large portions of housing and essential facilities destroyed, families have been forced into overcrowded, unsafe conditions, exacerbating the strain on already limited resources. The collapse of housing and infrastructure creates unsanitary living environments that significantly increase the risk of disease outbreaks and the spread of sickness. Inadequate sanitation and the inability to access clean water and medical services further compound the public health crisis. The spread of Polio is a real risk, and Palestinian children have been reported covered in rashes and other infections. Meanwhile, Israel continues to target shelters, including schools.

With Israeli society fearful of polio spreading to settler communities, the state has facilitated brief pauses within limited areas of the Gaza Strip to allow for a polio vaccination campaign from September 1-3. So far, the campaign has reached only a small portion of society, with only an estimated 187,000 children vaccinated.

This preliminary data by UNOSAT underscores the grave impact of the ongoing destruction and Israel's genocidal intent, highlighting how infrastructure damage directly contributes to crowded living conditions, disease proliferation, and the collapse of vital health services — key factors that have intensified the human suffering in Gaza and represent a critical component of orchestrating a genocide.

Action items:

• The Canadian BDS Coalition & International BDS Allies are calling for a week of boycott action from October 4 through 13, 2024.
• Guerrilla History has a critical discussion with Dr August Nimtz to talk about his book “The Ballot, the Streets—or Both” and discuss theoretical and strategic groundings and evolution of electoralism as a means of social transformation and justice. Highly recommended at this moment.
• Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism hosted Good Shepherd Collective’s Bana Abu Zuluf and Lara Kilani to discuss how anti-zionist praxis has been co-opted as a marketing strategy as opposed to a process of decolonization and liberation.
• “Estimating Carbon Emissions from Processing Building Debris in Gaza” by Professors Samer Abdelnour and Nicholas Roy outlines the environmental impact of simply removing the debris of the Gaza genocide.

GSC update:

We have been working on updating our website and have finally launched the first phase of the restructuring, trying to ensure that folks have access to relevant data points that capture Israel’s project of indigenous erasure and colonization. There will no doubt be bugs along the way and several areas of improvement have already been identified. Nonetheless, we welcome feedback, so email us if you have any thoughts or problems that arise.

In moving forward with this project and our work in general, we need your support. The Good Shepherd Collective has consistently rejected reliance on large liberal donors, aware of the political restrictions that come along with it, in order to advance Palestinian liberation and decolonization. Instead, we rely on the support of our friends, comrades, colleagues, and neighbors, who can commit to small monthly donations to help keep the lights on. In light of increasing restrictions on funding to Palestinian organizations and organizers, we have created an additional channel to receive donations on Patreon, which you can find here. You can also just click here to goto our regular page and make a donation. It’s brand new, so please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions about how we can best make use of the platform.