Many believe the trauma in Gaza began on October 7, but the truth is, it began decades ago, long before the headlines, long before the footage filled our screens, long before the world paid attention. The pain has been etched into the lives of Palestinians for generations — a quiet suffering often ignored, dismissed, or misunderstood.
The cruelty of occupation and displacement does not just scar those trapped within Gaza’s borders — it also haunts those who managed to escape. Families living in the diaspora carry a heavy, invisible burden: the guilt of freedom. They eat while their loved ones starve. They sleep in safety while their people dig through rubble. They live while their hearts remain stuck in Gaza.
What we are witnessing today is not a new conflict. It is the continuation of an unrelenting campaign of dehumanization, displacement, and obliteration. It is the legacy of decades of injustice — one that has only grown darker, more violent, and more shameless.
Gaza has become a graveyard of innocence.
Parents dig through collapsed buildings with their bare hands, praying to find a glimpse of life — or at the very least, the lifeless body of their child so they can lay them to rest with dignity. Children, barefoot and dust-covered, walk aimlessly through ruins, their entire families vanished in a single explosion. Babies are being born into death, with no arms to hold them, no lullabies to comfort them, and often no chance to live beyond their first breath.
Entire families. Entire bloodlines. Erased.
The psychological trauma is unfathomable.
There are no words for the sound of a mother’s scream as her baby is torn from her arms. No language can fully describe the haunting silence of a child who has no one left to speak to. This is not only trauma — it is generational devastation, an emotional wound that may never heal.
And yet, the world barely sees it.
Why?
Because the journalists brave enough to document these crimes are being silenced, not metaphorically, but literally killed. Because people sharing the truth online are being shadow banned, censored, suspended — their platforms erased while bombs continue to fall. With fewer cameras and fewer voices, the truth dies in silence, buried under rubble alongside the innocent lives no one is counting.
These are not just numbers. These are lives. Each of them, completely innocent, had a name, a dream, a future — stolen and taken away. And for what?
Gaza’s borders remain sealed, cutting off access to life-saving essentials. No food, clean water, or medical supplies are allowed to enter. The people of Gaza are starving, children are dying from hunger and dehydration, and yet the world continues to watch in silence. This is not just a humanitarian crisis—it is a deliberate act of collective punishment. Again, for what? Why? Are Palestinian lives worth any less? Aren’t they also humans? Don’t they deserve better?
This is not war. This is genocide. This is the systematic and deliberate destruction of a population—families, children, and generations to come. And it must end.
If this were happening anywhere else — in Europe, in the U.S., in a Western nation — the outcry would be immediate. The outrage would be relentless. The world would immediately erupt in outrage, tell me I am wrong? So why does the world fall silent when the victims are Palestinian?
Why is a Palestinian life treated as if it is worth less? Don’t we all bleed the same blood?
Palestinian lives matter.
They always have.
And they always will.
They deserve food, shelter, safety.
They deserve education, healing, and dignity.
They deserve to laugh, to grow old, to dream, to love.
They deserve to raise their children without the shadow of drones and bombs.
They deserve freedom.
They deserve justice.
We cannot afford silence.
Silence is complicity.
Every minute we say nothing, another life is lost — unheard, uncounted, and unloved by the world.
We must speak up.
For the mother searching for her child.
For the child buried in rubble.
For the families erased from the registry of the living.
We must call on the United Nations. On world leaders. On every journalist, every celebrity, every citizen with a voice and a platform to rise and say:
Enough.
Enough starving children.
Enough bombed hospitals.
Enough weaponized silence.
Enough waiting, watching, and doing nothing while an entire people is being wiped out.
This is a moment that demands courage.
A moment that tests our morality, our decency, and our humanity.
History will remember this.
One day, your children may ask: What did you do when Gaza was burning?
What will you say?
Will you say you stayed silent, afraid of speaking out?
Or will you say you stood on the side of justice, even when it was hard?
For those who are speaking out, please don’t stop. This is not a trend. This is a fight for human dignity.
What You Can Do:
Share the truth — even if it gets taken down, post it again.
Email or call your elected officials — demand they push for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid.
Donate to trusted Palestinian-led relief organizations.
Boycott companies complicit in the occupation and violence.
Have conversations — at your dinner table, at work, in your community.
Keep their stories alive.
Speak up. Stand up. Show up.
Palestinians deserve more.
They always have.
They always will.
Like Anees states in Hinds Hall 2 song– “So if I’m not allowed to say ‘From the River to the Sea’, then ‘from the rind to the seed Palestine will be free”.
Nour Z. Suid, PsyD, is a Palestinian Muslim born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Suid is a Licensed Professional Counselor. She graduated with her doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Naturopathic Medicine. Suid is currently working as a mental health counselor at Serenity Wellness & Counseling.
Editor’s Note: Opinion articles do not represent the views of the Virgin Islands Source newsroom and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer. Submissions can be made to visource@gmail.com.
