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| Jon Snow |
I'm back and in the comfort of this studio it's hard to
imagine I was ever away.
I don't need to
imagine though because what I saw is still etched in my mind. What I never knew
is what I know now, which is that those people who live in Gaza
The average age is seventeen. That means that about a
quarter of a million are under 10 and you know if you know any ten-year-olds,
seven-year-olds, five-year-olds, four-year-olds the idea in the looseness of a
war zone that you control your children, that they won't be somewhere where
they can be hit, is beyond any kind of imagination, you can't hope to control
that.
So that in a very densely packed urban area if you decide to
throw missiles, shells and the rest, then undoubtedly you will kill children
and that is what they’re doing.
There was one specific moment that stood out above all
others and that was penetrating the third floor of the al-Aqsa hospital one of
two floors dedicated children.
That's where I met Ma-ha, terribly crippled by shrapnel that
had penetrated her spine. That's where I saw this little
two-and-a-half-year-old with panda sized huge suppurating round panda like
wounds that almost prevented her eyes opening at all. They were the consequence
a broken skull and a fractured nose.
I can't get those
images out of my mind, and I don't think you can either because they've been
everywhere.
They are essence what
is happening in Gaza
Now of course Hamas for its part was throwing rockets into
Israel designed ideally as they would put it “to kill Israelis,” but of course
Israel courtesy American Finance has invented the most brilliant shield which
is keeping absolutely everything out and that's a big difference.
Suffering is amongst ground troops mainly 20-year-olds who
go in and get killed, so when I last spoke to the Norwegian Doctor who is one
of those dealing with the consequences of this bombing-
- I asked him how many children have been wounded?
- They've registered 1310.
- How many children dead?
- 166 but that number is growing all the time.
That is what makes this something that everyone of us has to
confront; we have to know that in some way we actually share some
responsibility for those deaths because for us it is no priority whatever to
stop it.
Our United Nations,
our government, our world is not that interested.
The fact that you're watching this that you've chosen to
watch it, means that you're actually motivated to do something and that in the
end is the greatest hope the people in Gaza have.
We cannot let it go
on. If our reporting is worth anything, if you're preparedness to listen and
watch and read, is anything to go by, together we can make a difference.
Jon Snow, Channel 4
News.
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