Starting the New Year in Gaza by Cutting Off More Support

In addition to continuing the illegal blockade designed to inflict further harms upon Palestinian families in Gaza, Israel (with support and backing from the United States), is now implementing a ban on aid and medical organizations that have been operating within Gaza, further limiting what was already a severely restricted and hampered presence of support, in order to further isolate Gaza and increase its genocidal pressure and violence.

Families in Gaza need our support more than ever before. Direct donations raised by people outside of our systems and governments are even more critical than they have been these past two years. 

But in addition to contributing to these donations, we also need to do more to raise our voices in every space and every way to exert the pressure that is required to change what is being done by our government as it expands its support for the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. I hope 2026 will bring with it more Americans who will finally recognize and act upon their own responsibility, and understand that what comforts we may have come at a price of harms done to others throughout the world, others who are suffering because of actions taken by the United States government. And I hope this awareness will also be accompanied by a commitment to do more to change this. 

I hope that demonstrations held by Americans in 2026 will extend beyond our own immediate environments, will go beyond our talk of 'no kings,' will abandon the exclusively U.S.-centric focus on "domestic" policy, and that we will finally understand the inherently irresponsible fallacy of this framing, which is so reliant upon navel-gazing, and that we will then alter our actions accordingly.  It was almost a year ago when I expressed similar sentiments in our local daily newspaper, and I pray a year from now things will be very different. 

This morning I shared something online that ended up being one of the most popular re-posts I have ever published, which I took to mean it resonated with many many people. It was an article written by the Palestinian reporter Hind Khoudary called "What Being a Woman in Gaza Means in this Genocidal War." I shared the article with this quote excerpted from it: 

"Women screaming into the void, bringing life into the world while surrounded by death and destruction. And to think, if there were enough political will among Israel’s Western allies, none of this would be happening."

I have been thinking about this, this and the stories and descriptions of the women she included in her article. I have been thinking about this all day today, on this first day of the new year. I have been thinking about my friend Dina, sister of my friend Ashraf, and the many hardships and losses she has experienced, yes as a Palestinian in Gaza, but also as a woman. She has been going through things that would have completely broken me. And she has been living in extreme pain for months now, ever since the shrapnel wound to her jaw she sustained when they had to flee their shelter amidst gunfire and shelling during their last violent forced displacement. She literally had to grab her baby girl and run for her life, while the shrapnel entered her jaw and her face bled profusely. 

She still needs surgery for this injury, and she is in constant pain. And we cannot even raise enough support through her current survival campaign for her to buy food and clothing for her daughter Areej, let alone have surgery. 

And now, with medical organizations being banned from providing any assistance, the already targeted damaged medical infrastructure in Gaza will be even more fragile, more expensive, more inaccessible. "And to think, if there were enough political will among Israel’s Western allies, none of this would be happening."

I do think about this. I am thinking about this. And I will try to keep doing more than merely think about this. And I hope if you are reading these words, you will too.

May 2026 bring us an enhanced awareness, a renewed commitment, and new actions that will cause change. And may support for the families in Gaza who are trying to survive the unendurable grow. They have been surviving for so long now in the harshest most devastating circumstances, without enough support, without any justice, and without their most basic needs being met. May this change soon.