How devastating can the impact of war be? How can conflict and violence reshape the world map? And most importantly, how far can it degrade the value of human life—“the best of creation”?
We are witnessing the answers to these questions in the Gaza Strip of Palestine. This land, now turned into a city of death, is showing us with stark clarity just how many lives must be sacrificed in a modern, competitive state system to protect “every square mile of land.”
The United Nations reported yesterday that in Israeli attacks on Gaza, 100 children are being killed or injured every single day.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 50,609 Palestinians have been killed and 115,063 wounded so far in this war. There is no doubt the actual numbers are higher.
Tragically, the majority of the dead and wounded are women and children. International media reports that thousands of women and children remain missing under the rubble.
What is happening to Gaza’s children feels like a betrayal of the Creator Himself. Religious scriptures across the world contain firm instructions to be gentle, compassionate, and caring toward innocent and tender-hearted children. But who is listening? Across the world, children are often called "angels"—beings akin to the divine.
And yet, how are we treating these very angels sent by God? Are we mindful that the children—referred to as “Khalifah of Allah” (vicegerents of God)—are being subjected to such inhuman cruelty, all of which is seen by the One above?
The world poet Rabindranath Tagore once warned humanity: “Every child comes with the message that God has not yet despaired of mankind.” But given the way Gaza’s children are being treated, how long will the Creator continue to trust us?
Reports state that thousands of children in Gaza have lost their families and loved ones. There is little hope even for the injured children to recover and be freed from suffering. Day after day, month after month, the sound of bullets, bombs, and missiles has driven them to a breaking point.
Psychiatrists observing the situation have warned that these traumatized children have no chance of a bright future. This is truly devastating news for the world. In the words of Nelson Mandela:
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
In the context of Gaza, what then can we say about our collective soul? What answer will we give to Gaza’s children?
Social activist Henry Ward Beecher once told the world:
“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.”
If this is true, is it not our moral duty to protect these “hands of heaven”?
We must remember this eternal truth: war never brings well-being. In the First World War, Hungarian soldier Paul Kern was shot in the frontal lobe of his brain.
Though he miraculously survived, he could not sleep for a single moment over the next 40 years of his life—despite the fact that a human typically cannot survive more than 11 days without sleep. War truly robs humanity of peace. So, we must ask ourselves—do we wish to sleep in the comfort of peace, or not?
The American poet Carl Sandburg put it plainly:
“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.”
And now, we must genuinely search for an answer: After such cruelty toward the children of Gaza—these messengers of God—how much further can the world truly move forward?
Why are world leaders silent about protecting Gaza’s children? Is it not time to break this silence?
