This opinion piece was written by Sally Stevenson – is the Executive Director Illawarra Women’s Health Centre and worked as humanitarian aid worker in Gaza in September and October 2024. It was published in the Illawarra Mercury.
As we all look forward to our Easter break, hoping for warm weather and blue skies, how many of us will pause to reflect on the hope-filled message of that first Easter or on the people living now in that land where it all took place so long ago?
In the Holy Land where Muslims have recently finished the month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting of Ramadan, Jews are celebrating Passover and this weekend, Christians Easter, all while the brutality and inhumanity in Gaza continues.
Since 2 March 2025, no food or humanitarian aid has entered the Gaza Strip, a place a third the size of the Illawarra and with a population six times that of our region and which had already been under a crippling siege for the past nineteen years.
Seeing the never-ending stream of malnourished, barely clothed, barefooted, injured, ill children of Gaza on my socials and remembering vividly what I witnessed when I was there last October, brings Matthew 25 to mind ‘for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’ and I wonder how much of the world is not thinking the same thing? If it is, then why is it not acting?
Israel’s extensive bombing campaign in Gaza has decimated essential services and unleashed an environmental catastrophe. Explosives equivalent to at least two nuclear bombs have been dropped on Gaza, causing massive destruction and the collapse of water and sanitation systems, agricultural devastation, and toxic pollution. Using satellite data, the United Nations estimates 70% of the buildings in Gaza, including 245,000 homes, have been destroyed either partially or completely.
‘By destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a lethal mix of crises that will inflict severe harm on generations to come,” the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights Committee has said.
UN agencies estimate that 1.8 million people – over half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance.
Moreover, the IDF has intentionally destroyed the health system, relentlessly bombing hospitals, executing paramedics, preventing even basic medications and supplies from entering Gaza, and detaining and torturing doctors. And since 2 March 2025, no food or humanitarian aid has entered the Gaza Strip. This is a strategy of deliberately engineering conditions of life to bring about the physical destruction of the people of Gaza. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently stated that “As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop.”
Matthew 25 again: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ The women of Gaza. These are our sisters. The literal deliverers of new life, of the hope the new generation brings – they have been disproportionately targeted.
“This is a war against women. Thousands of women have been killed and hundreds of thousands are living in extremely precarious conditions. The number of women and girls who have died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth remains unknown.” – Obstetrician in Gaza.
In March, the UN Human Rights Council reported that Israel has carried out genocidal acts by systematically destroying sexual and reproductive health facilities and blocking aid for safe pregnancies and deliveries, and neonatal care in Gaza.
The Council has reported that ‘Facilities specifically designated to provide sexual and reproductive healthcare have been directly targeted in a widespread and systematic manner. Stress, malnourishment, dehydration, diseases and infections are resulting in women having difficulties or being unable to lactate while formula remains inaccessible. Lack of medical supplies and equipment, restricted access to healthcare facilities and de-prioritisation of maternity healthcare have led to inadequate prenatal and postpartum care and unsafe deliveries at home or in shelters.
Menstrual cycles have become a source of stress due to lack of privacy and access to water and menstruation products.’
“The measures imposed by Israel, coupled with repeated bombardment since October 2023, will have long-term effects on Gazan women’s fertility. We do not know the extent of these women’s trauma or the extent of the impact on their unborn babies, nor the long-term effect on the Palestinian people.” – Director at health agency.
But we do know that miscarriages have increased. Premature births have increased. Infant mortality has increased.
And child deaths are continuing to increase. In November 2024 the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published this undeniable graph.
‘When verified deaths mirror the age distribution of a population, and not that of a known demographic of combatants, it is clear war crimes are being committed’. You’ll see the age group with the highest mortality is 5-9 year olds.
Why? They are two big to be picked up and carried when escaping drone strikes, bombing or shelling. They are two small to run quickly enough.
All wars are a war on children. As James Baldwin said: “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe’. And these Gazan children, they are ours.
Just one heartbreaking story amongst so many this week is that of little Sham who, only days old, had her left arm amputated after her family home in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood east of Gaza City, was targeted by an Israeli missile. Sham died two days post-procedure having lived just one nightmarish week in this world.
As you gather with family and friends this weekend, map out the trickiest hiding spots for the egg hunt, peel off the shiny wrappers and enjoy your first mouthful of seasonal chocolate deliciousness, please spare a thought for Gaza. This year, as last, the reality of Gaza is the antithesis of Easter. It is the antithesis of Christianity. It is the antithesis of humanity, of peace, of justice. Still Gaza survives and is a lesson to us all.
What can we do, this weekend? Can we personify the message of Easter? Can we be hopeful? Can we create hope?
Yes. Every act, every moment of hope, is resistance to destruction. In every act against a genocide there is hope. And every act counts.
The Illawarra Women’s Health Centre is holding a panel event on May 7: Women in Gaza, with speakers, Chris Sidoti – UN Human Rights Council, Commissioner, Sara Saleh – Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) and Dr Bushra Othman – Palestinian Australian Surgeon, volunteer in Gaza. Register here.
