Fireworks in the sky bring joy to most kids, but not to the kids of Gaza.
Two young kids, terrified, know this is not the sound of celebration, but the sound of bombs being dropped by the IDF to kill them. This is how the new Channel 4 documentary Kill Zone: Inside Gaza begins.
Shot by a brave group of Gazan journalists risking their lives to capture the horrors committed by the Israeli state, it portrays the nightmare of the last eight months in Gaza through the eyes of its civilians.
By documenting the tragedies of a few families in detail, often through the eyes of children and supplemented with footage from social media, Kill Zone paints a stark picture of the brutal reality of imperialism and war.
Scenes from Al Shifa Hospital – once Gaza’s largest hospital, now rubble – are more horrifying than any fictional hell. Bodies everywhere, injured children trying to make sense of what’s happening around them. Civilians plead to know why they are being targeted without warning.
Indeed, some of the most harrowing moments captured are those showing the threats displaced civilians face daily, struggling to simply meet basic needs like shelter and food. In one instance, the IDF drops leaflets instructing them to evacuate to a ‘safe corridor’ in the south – only to then bomb the convoy.
These are just some of the war crimes that the ICC has accused Israel of, clear for all to see.
Ultimately, Kill Zone can only do the same thing it accuses the international community of doing: watch on with horror, with no solutions to the carnage offered.
It is our responsibility not to do the same. We know exactly who is responsible for these atrocities.
We need to stand together against the imperialists and war criminals in Westminster, and fight for a world where children can smile and play rather than running away from tanks and bombs.
