LAHORE: The harrowing consequences of the 17-month-long siege on Gaza have plunged over one million children into a dire humanitarian emergency, with countless noncombatant civilians — especially children, women, and the elderly — trapped in what human rights advocates are describing as a “can’t-live-can’t-leave” crisis.
In a renewed call for international intervention, Pakistani siblings — Ghulam Bishar Hafi and Ubaidah al Fidhdha Hafiah — have released a heart-wrenching supplication-plea, written with their own blood, as part of their ongoing campaign ‘Voice for the Voiceless’. The campaign, launched 10 months ago, seeks to awaken the world’s conscience to the suffering of Gazan children, whom they describe as being “detained, trapped, amputated, or buried alive in rubble”.
“Mind-numbing for the world is the fact that in this so-called global village era — in the 21st century — children are being starved, maimed, and left to die without basic aid”, the plea reads.
Citing UNICEF reports, the siblings highlight that more than one million children in Gaza are being systematically denied access to lifesaving aid. Evidence, they claim, shows these children are being treated with less humanity than “farm animals — and at times, even worse than the standards set for kittens or puppies.”
Picturing a region engulfed in decades of unresolved inter-communal tensions, the plea stresses the use of child starvation as a weapon of war, something described as unprecedented in recorded human history. “Among the destitute population are disabled children, orphans, and those forcibly separated from their families — all crying for help in deafening silence.”
The siblings appeal to the United Nations, global leadership, and civil society worldwide to take immediate and moral action, warning that inaction would signify the global community’s failure to uphold even the most basic tenets of humanity.
“This is no longer just a political crisis — it is a moral imperative,” the letter urges. “If the world can protect the offspring of wild and farm animals by law, how can it stay silent while human children are reduced to ‘dusky coffins’?”
In an emotional conclusion, the blood-written letter states:
“These effectively homeless, restless, and peaceless children are on their knees before the collective conscience of the world, begging for their next breath. If we, as a global community, fail to act now, we forfeit our claim to a humane society.”
