#02 To the Ground
Our last message described how the genocide in Gaza persists via the weaponization of aid—a practice that Israel and its accomplices have been perfecting for decades.
In 2024, Israel posited a dystopic plan for North Gaza. In three so-called “humanitarian bubbles,” private contractors would deploy biometric data, gates and walls, and thousands of mercenary forces to control access to basic necessities for sustaining life. Palestinians would earn their bread based on their killer’s examination, and anyone that Israel deems has ties to the resistance (an ever-increasing and malleable category Israel uses to target civil servants, doctors, journalists, their children and families, etc.) would fend for their survival outside the bubbles.
The plan quickly fell apart after it proved nearly impossible to find Gazans willing to become collaborators. Yet, undeterred by failure, Israel is now proposing something very similar, which goes even further in systematizing the blockade and weaponization of aid.
Via “logistics hubs,” Israel now wants to control all aid into Gaza, including subjecting all international and humanitarian bodies and personnel to a shadowy commission composed of military, intelligence, and propaganda officials.
Aid would be distributed only in areas under full Israeli army control. The army that killed more than 15,000 children would become the sole authority over the provision of food, water, and medical aid to its victims.
The dehumanization of our people has gone so far as to legitimize the complete weaponization of the most basic human rights. We, Palestinians, are being blackmailed to eat from the very hand drenched in the blood of our loved ones.
Insisting on living with dignity, grassroots community networks in Gaza seize every opportunity to farm, devise solutions for pumping water, purchase scarce resources for equal distribution, and prepare any standing structures to house displaced families. These community networks continue against all odds to demonstrate extraordinary self-organization and agency using any resources, tools, and supplies they can in defiance of Israel’s goal to force Palestinians into submission—to make us trade our dignity for bread.
As this reality escalates to apocalyptic levels of cruelty, the global solidarity movement’s role is to support and resource those on the ground to continue in any way possible to resist dehumanization, and to refuse to separate bread from dignity. █
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Inspire
We proudly spotlight the Future Development Commission, active in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza since 2003. This women-led group has long supported marginalized communities through healthcare, education, and environmental initiatives. Since the genocide began, they’ve opened field schools, distributed menstrual products and hygiene kits, held awareness sessions on gender-based violence amid the war, and provided warm clothing and tents for the displaced. Despite the killing of many members—including 22-year-old Sumaya Ali, murdered by Israeli forces on January 12—they remain steadfast in their mission to support their community under unimaginable conditions.
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