By Sarah Khalid – Pakistan
He was just a child , no more than four or five, with dust on his cheeks and fear in his wide, innocent eyes.
When the bullets rained down like a storm from the sky, he did what any child would do: he ran. Not toward safety, there is none in Gaza, but away from the sound, away from the fire, away from the unseen soldiers who mistook his tiny frame for a threat.
His little legs moved with all their might, full of desperation, full of life, clinging to a hope that maybe, just maybe, he could outrun the war.
But he didn’t know.….how could he know? That no child, no matter how brave or fast, can outrun a bullet.
It caught him mid-step, stealing the breath from his lungs, the light from his eyes, and just like that, the world lost another heartbeat it never even tried to protect.
A Childhood in the Crossfire
Childhood is meant to be filled with bedtime stories, warm meals, and gentle lullabies. But in Gaza, lullabies are drowned out by airstrikes, and dreams are shattered before they can even take shape. Beneath the smoke and shattered buildings live the tiniest victims of a war they never chose. With every passing day, they lose more than just their homes; they lose their innocence, their laughter, and in many tragic cases, their lives. This is not just a political crisis, but a step in the Nakba which leads to a humanitarian heartbreak, unfolding in the small, trembling hands of children forgotten by the world.
The Gaza Strip, a densely populated area, is home to a significant number of children, many of whom have known nothing but war and conflict in their short lives. The escalation of violence in recent years has left thousands of children traumatized, injured, or dead. According to UNICEF, more than 3,000 children have been killed in the latest round of violence, and many others have been injured or displaced. Hospitals and schools have been targeted, further exacerbating the suffering of young people in the region.
Gaza’s children are not only victims of direct Zionist violence, but also suffer from the psychological consequences of living in a constant state of fear. With limited access to mental health services, the long-term impact of trauma on Gaza’s youth is likely to be felt for generations.
Hunger That Goes Beyond the Stomach
In the hollowed-out ruins of Gaza, where laughter has long been replaced by silence and ash, children wander through the rubble hungry, homeless, and heartbroken. Their eyes carry stories no child should ever have to tell, and their stomachs ache with an emptiness that bread alone can’t fill.
There are no lunch boxes here. No sweet scent of home-cooked meals waiting after school. In Gaza, many children wake with the bitter taste of nothing on their tongues. Some haven’t had a full meal in days, just scraps passed between trembling hands, or a stale piece of bread softened with water and tears. Their bodies are shrinking, bones visible beneath thinning skin, while their spirits starve alongside them.
But it’s not just the hunger for food. It’s the hunger to feel safe. The hunger to play, to grow, to learn ,to live without wondering if today is the day everything ends. It’s a hunger that eats away at the soul.
The Miserable Reality of Genocide
How do you explain war to a five-year-old? How do you tell a child why their school no longer stands, why their friends are gone, or why their mother cries every night while pretending to be strong?
Children in Gaza have learned too soon how to survive without toys, without food, without light. They’ve learned to run when the sky growls. To hide when silence becomes too heavy. Some have stopped crying, not because they aren’t in pain, but because they’ve grown tired of not being heard.
These children don’t ask for much. Just the right to live. To dream. To wake up without fear. To be able to live on their Palestinian land, without being expelled from it by the Israeli army.
And while the world debates borders and ceasefires, the children of Gaza are dying silently in the shadows, not always from bullets, but from the unbearable weight of being forgotten.
The Silence of NATO: A Global Power’s Inaction
The Gaza conflict, emblematic of decades of colonial dispossession and imperial aggression, unfolds not in a vacuum, but with the silent approval, and in many cases, the active complicity of global imperialist structures. NATO, while not directly involved militarily in Gaza, plays a strategic and ideological role that bolsters the Israeli state’s actions and underpins the broader imperialist agenda in the Middle East.
NATO represents a military alliance rooted in the interests of capitalist elites, particularly those of the United States and Western Europe. It does not function as a neutral peacekeeping body; instead, it upholds a global order shaped by the interests of transnational capital. In this sense, NATO’s complicity is not passive, it is a calculated position aligned with the geopolitical and economic interests of its main member states.
NATO members, especially the U.S., are the primary suppliers of arms and diplomatic cover to Israel. The alliance’s silence on the genocide, the blockade of Gaza, and the mass suffering of Palestinians effectively legitimizes settler-colonial violence and undermines the Palestinian right to self-determination.
True peace in Gaza cannot be brokered by institutions that have, time and again, prioritized profit over people and domination over real democracy. It must come from international solidarity movements, grassroots resistance, and the rejection of imperialism as the basis of foreign policy.
The Need for a Stronger Response
One of the most striking aspects of the reaction to the Gaza conflict is the complicity of Arab governments. Some passively condemn Israel’s actions, but do nothing concrete against it, due to their relations with the Western powers.
NATO’s continued silence and the passive response of Muslim countries have left the children of Gaza in a dangerous situation. The international community must recognize that the situation in Gaza is not just a political conflict, but a genocide and a humanitarian catastrophe that demands a unified and compassionate response.
This profound silence on the devastation of Gaza sends a message to the world that the lives of the Palestinian people and children are less important than the interests of the world bourgeoisie and the governments of the region. However, the workers and people of the region have the potential to exert a significant influence on the situation through a new Arab Spring, which could pave the way for an end to the genocide and a better future for the children of Gaza.
A Plea for the Smallest Souls
You have to be outraged by the shattered body of a Palestinian child, with a heartbeat that stopped too soon. No bourgeoisie system of power or domination can ever justify the broken body of a child. No bourgeoisie state ambition is worth more than the life of one innocent, whose heartbeat was silenced by the violence of oppression. As the world scrolls past headlines and returns to comfort, Gaza’s children remain wide-eyed, waiting for help, for hope, for someone to care.
The smallest graves now outnumber the lullabies. If we are to call ourselves human, we must not look away. We must amplify their voices, demand protection, send aid, and above all never let their pain be reduced to statistics. Because behind every destroyed building is a Palestinian child who once dreamed of being a doctor, a painter, a teacher, or even a professional athlete.
And behind every dream lost is a world that failed them.
Building International solidarity
International solidarity with Palestine is a powerful expression of global resistance against imperialism and oppression. As countries and movements unite under the banner of justice, they challenge the systemic structures that perpetuate colonization, exploitation, and the denial of basic human rights. Supporting Palestine is not only about advocating for an end to occupation, but also about standing up against the broader forces of imperialism that shape global power dynamics. The fight for Palestinian liberation is a fight for all oppressed peoples, affirming that true freedom and self-determination cannot exist under the weight of imperialist domination. By amplifying voices from Palestine and aligning with anti-imperialist movements worldwide, we are reaffirming the shared struggle for dignity, sovereignty, and justice across borders.
In closing, the struggle for a free Palestine is intrinsically linked to the broader fight against imperialism and global injustice. International solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people is more than a call for peace, it is a demand for the dismantling of imperialist systems that fuel oppression, displacement, and violence. Across the world, from Latin America to Africa, Asia to Europe, movements are rising in support of Palestine, recognizing that the fight for Palestinian sovereignty is part of the collective struggle for human dignity and self-determination. The road to liberation is long, but the solidarity of those who stand in opposition to imperialism, injustice, and occupation offers hope and strength to the Palestinian people. As we continue to raise our voices, we affirm that true peace can only come when the shackles of imperialism are broken, and the rights of all oppressed peoples are recognized and respected.
