by Nick Moss
In the age of the virtual,
Bearing witness to the real
Becomes a radical act again.
218 journalists killed in Gaza.
All foreign press excluded.
As the food hub safe corridors
Become yet more kill zones.
Still, the facts,
Like blood from a wound,
Seep out.
The individual suspects at the GHF site
Were advancing towards the forces
In a way that posed a threat to them.
Odd, then, that Mohammad abu Shamala,
22, was struck by a bullet in his back.
Everyone who went to the aid distribution
Had no other choice. If they aren’t killed
By bullets or shelling
They will die of hunger.(1)
Words are not enough.
Describing a genocide
As it happens
Is not enough.
Crafted and worked-over stanzas
And limpid, sad haikus
Are no defence against
Bullets and bombs
And malnutrition.
Children cannot eat laments.
In Marseilles, French dockers
Refuse to load a container
Bound for Haifa.
Machine gun parts for the IDF.
Marchons! Marchons!
There are no sidelines to stand on.
We are not “all Palestinians”.
SPICE 2000s do not rain on Slough.
What’s at stake
Is whether Palestinians
Are less-than-human,
And who decides.
We are not all Palestinians
But Palestine must be integral to all of us.
Humanus or genos.
Flesh and blood.
Or blood and soil.
Yaqeen Hammad, 11
Activist, journalist, spent her time
Delivering food, clothing, and toys
To displaced families.
Killed 23 May 2025,
In an Israeli bombardment of the Al-Baraka area in Deir al-Balah
Yaqeen said: I try to bring a bit of joy to the other children
so that they can forget the war.
Genocide; the obliteration of the past
The slaughter of the present
And the death of the future.
Memories lost, lives lost,
Possibilities shut off
By smart bombs, dumb bombs, artillery shells.
A war that kills children
So as to kill the yet-to-come.
Blank pages in a notebook
Burning to ash.
There can be no forgetting.
(1) Statement by Fadi abu Mohammad – The Guardian, 5 June 2025.
