Chil­dren — in­no­cent souls caught in the cross­fire of Is­rael and Pales­tine for the last five decades and more  —have borne a dis­pro­por­tion­ate brunt of the con­flict. The whole or­ches­tra­tion of war in Gaza is so stress­ful and in­hu­man that we are see­ing geno­cide hap­pen­ing in front of our own eyes. For the global Sikh com­mu­nity and all those who value hu­man life and dig­nity, it is time to in­ter­vene in the daily un­fold­ing hu­man­i­tar­ian tragedy at Gaza, writes WSN ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh.

GAZA IS BLEED­ING EVERY HOUR, EVERY MINUTE, EVERY SEC­OND. The in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity finds it­self con­fronting har­row­ing im­ages and re­ports from the em­bat­tled Gaza Strip. The re­lent­less at­tacks and the hor­rors faced by its res­i­dents evoke the sharpest of hu­man pains.

Aligned with the core Sikh prin­ci­ples of com­pas­sion, jus­tice, and ser­vice to hu­man­ity, we are deeply pained by the un­fold­ing hu­man­i­tar­ian cri­sis in Gaza.

The death of a sin­gle child is a tragedy; the deaths of mul­ti­ple chil­dren are an un­speak­able cat­a­stro­phe. Tod­dlers, who should be play­ing un­der the watch­ful eyes of their par­ents, are in­stead be­ing pulled from the rub­ble. Hos­pi­tals, which should be sanc­tu­ar­ies of heal­ing, have been bom­barded, de­fy­ing all in­ter­na­tional norms and the sa­cred­ness of life they en­shrine.

It is not just the loss of life that stings, but the ero­sion of hope and the theft of child­hood. Every child lost rep­re­sents dreams un­ful­filled, po­ten­tials un­re­al­ized, and fu­tures de­nied. How many bud­ding sci­en­tists, artists, lead­ers, and peace­mak­ers has Gaza lost?

And what of the chil­dren who sur­vive? They carry with them the trau­mas of war, the loss of fam­ily mem­bers, and the scars that may never fully heal.

A UNICEF com­mu­nique says “it has “50 psy­chol­o­gists and coun­sel­lors in Gaza reach­ing out to chil­dren di­rectly im­pacted by the loss. They have reached 3,000, but the needs are “stag­ger­ing” as par­ents are also in a state of trauma.”

UNICEF Mis­sion chief field of­fice in Gaza, Ms. Pernilla Iron­side noted that “to­day 373,000 Pales­tin­ian chil­dren need “im­me­di­ate psy­cho-so­cial first aid.”

“To­day 373,000 Pales­tin­ian chil­dren need “im­me­di­ate psy­cho-so­cial first aid.”

Ms. Pernilla Iron­side, UNICEF Mis­sion Chief field of­fice in Gaza 

The Sikh tra­di­tion, founded by Guru Nanak, teaches us to rec­og­nize the hu­man race as one. The pain of oth­ers should res­onate with us as if it were our own. The Gu­ru’s teach­ings im­plore us to rise against in­jus­tice and to serve those in need, re­gard­less of race, re­li­gion, or re­gion. It is in this spirit that we call upon the in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity to in­ter­vene with com­pas­sion and wis­dom.

It is time for Sikh in­ter­na­tional aid agen­cies to don the role of mod­ern-day Bhai Ghanaiyas and reach out to the suf­fer­ing hu­man­ity in Gaza.  It is time for those of us who plead for Sikh hu­man rights to take the side of those who are the un­der­dogs in this gi­gan­tic cat­a­stro­phe hap­pen­ing in front of our eyes, al­most live through our tele­vi­sion and phone screens.

“Guru Nanak’s teach­ings im­plore us to rise against in­jus­tice and to serve those in need, re­gard­less of race, re­li­gion, or re­gion. It is in this spirit that we call upon the in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity to in­ter­vene with com­pas­sion and wis­dom.”

Is­rael should make no mis­take that the world un­der­stands and their al­lies too, even though they may speak dis­parag­ingly for var­i­ous diplo­matic, his­tor­i­cal, and trade rea­sons that the tar­get­ing of hos­pi­tals and med­ical fa­cil­i­ties is not just a vi­o­la­tion of in­ter­na­tional law; it is a vi­o­la­tion of our shared hu­man­ity.

When med­ical fa­cil­i­ties are de­stroyed, the sick and wounded are de­nied care, which leads to even more un­nec­es­sary suf­fer­ing and death. We con­demn these ac­tions in the strongest terms and urge a thor­ough in­ves­ti­ga­tion by in­ter­na­tional bod­ies.

We ap­peal to Is­rael, to rec­og­nize the dev­as­tat­ing im­pact of its ac­tions on the civil­ian pop­u­la­tion of Gaza. No po­lit­i­cal ob­jec­tive can jus­tify the scale of hu­man suf­fer­ing we are wit­ness­ing. We im­plore the Is­raeli forces to cease their of­fen­sive, pri­or­i­tize hu­man rights, and seek a just and last­ing so­lu­tion to this pro­tracted con­flict.

The world watches in si­lence, as Gaza en­dures tragedy af­ter tragedy. But si­lence in the face of suf­fer­ing is com­plic­ity. Let the global com­mu­nity come to­gether — not just in con­dem­na­tion but in ac­tion — to end the cy­cle of vi­o­lence and usher in an era of peace and pros­per­ity for all.

We pray for the in­no­cent lives lost, for the wounded, and for a fu­ture where chil­dren in Gaza, and every­where, can grow up free from the hor­rors of war.

As for the Sikhs, they have no choice. As or­dained by the Guru, it is time to stand up for Sar­bat da Bhala -wel­fare for all hu­mankind.  It is also time to call a spade a spade, notwith­stand­ing which coun­try said what about Sikhs hereto­fore. For the pre­sent, let us stand up for hu­man­ity.