Online Reporter
Ivan Zhakata-Herald Correspondent
THE Government Media Office in Gaza has accused Israel of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, as the conflict marked two years this week, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and millions displaced.
In a statement marking 730 days since the war began on October 7, 2023, the Government Media Office said more than 76 000 Palestinians have been killed or remain missing, while over 2.3 million people continue to face starvation, disease and bombardment.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a humanitarian crisis,” reads the statement.
“It is a deliberate and total collapse of the foundation of human life.”
The Gaza authorities said 90 percent of the enclave has been destroyed, with more than 200 000 tonnes of explosives dropped — an equivalent of 15 Hiroshima bombs.
The Ministry of Health reported that 25 of 38 hospitals have shut down completely, while the remaining facilities operate under severe shortages of medicine, power and fuel.
“Hospitals have become empty concrete shells,” the Ministry said.
“Patients are dying from hunger and lack of care, not from their wounds.”
The Government Office said among the dead were 20 179 children, 10 427 women, 1 701 medical personnel and 254 journalists making it the deadliest conflict for media workers in modern times.
In Harare, the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Zimbabwe, Dr Tamer Almassri expressed gratitude to Zimbabwean journalists for keeping the Palestinian story alive and for showing solidarity with journalists in Gaza who have lost their lives while covering the conflict.
“On behalf of the Embassy of the State of Palestine, I want to thank Zimbabwean journalists for their interest in the Palestinian question and their efforts to tell the Palestinian story to the Zimbabwean public,” he said.
“We also thank them for their solidarity with their sisters and brothers, the journalists in Palestine who were killed by the Israeli apartheid occupation.”
Ambassador Almassri said the last two years represent a century disaster of humanity with over 77 000 victims, 12 000 missing and 170 000 injured, including 4 800 amputees and 1 200 paralysis cases.
“Imagine — Gaza is only a third the size of Harare, but more than 200 000 tonnes of bombs have been dropped there,” he said.
“The nuclear bomb on Hiroshima was 13 000 tonnes. This is genocide in every sense.”
The Palestinian envoy said Israel’s bombardment has destroyed 95 percent of Gaza’s schools, all universities and the entire healthcare infrastructure, forcing survivors into makeshift shelters and camps in the southern Gaza Strip.
He accused Israel of deliberately confining civilians into what he termed “a new Bantustan” in Khan Yunis, describing the situation as “a modern-day ghetto.”
“Israel is forcing civilians into a small area called Al-Mawasi,” Ambassador Almassri said.
“They want to erase our existence.”
He also criticised the global community for failing to act decisively to end the war.
“After two years, the world has done nothing to stop this genocide,” Ambassador Almassri said.
“If any other country committed such crimes, it would have been stopped immediately. But because it is Israel, they act as if it is above international law.”
He said Palestinians draw inspiration from Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, vowing that their fight for freedom will continue until the occupation ends.
“Just as Zimbabwe defeated Rhodesian apartheid, we too will defeat Israeli apartheid. No occupation lasts forever.”
The Gaza conflict, now entering its third year, has drawn international condemnation, with humanitarian agencies warning of a deepening crisis as famine and disease spread among the displaced population.
