Gaza

I read a sad story yesterday about a young girl in Palestine. Her mother had sent her, along with her older sister and relatives, in a car that was trying to reach a safer area than the one they were currently in. The mother was going to go by foot but thought the journey would be too long for the youngster. I think she was about six.

A short way into their journey the party came across soldiers who killed most of the car’s occupants. The older sister phoned the emergency services and was talking to them when the phone fell silent. Then the little girl picked up the phone and continued the conversation. ‘’They are all dead,’’ she told the woman on the phone. ‘’Please come and rescue me.’’ The girl was told to remain hidden while an ambulance was dispatched. Her mother was notified and connected to the conversation and the three continue talking. Eventually the girl told the woman that she could see the ambulance. Then all contact was lost. The mother has since searched all hospitals and anywhere else where her daughter might be, with no luck in finding her. We don’t know whether that little girl is alive or dead. What a horrendous experience for a young child to be subjected to.

This is one story, one human face to the suffering that has been caused by this war. All we hear on the news is x amount of casualties. We tend to forget that each casualty has a story attached, loved ones left behind with a life that can never be returned to its former one. Many have lost their family members and homes, their cities and towns.

I do wonder, on a soul level, what this kind of experience is all about. How could one ever forgive the perpetrators of such atrocities? I am sure all it is doing is breeding more hatred. Wars don’t help anyone. They don’t solve anything and they are generally driven by greed. I am not saying one side is right and the other wrong. In this particular war one is retaliating for an attack on its own country – but how far does that retaliation go?

I see the latest headlines on the BBC today are that Hamas responds to ceasefire offer with 135-day truce plan. However, this comes with conditions. Let’s hope, for the sake of their people on both sides, a cease fire can be accomplished. Let no more six-year-old girls go through what this one did.