Students gather on the North Oval to hold a vigil for the lives lost in Gaza. Several students on campus and in Palestinian groups have family in West Bank and Gaza who are affected by the most recent Israel-Hamas war. Credit: Lily Hynes | Assistant Photo Editor
Dalal Shalash, a fourth-year in history and political science and founder of the Palestinian Liberation Movement, a Columbus-based community organization, is determined to use her voice while her family and friends struggle in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and West Bank.
She and other Palestinian organizations in the Ohio State and Columbus area have continued to organize walkouts, vigils and town halls to spread awareness of what Shalash described as an “ongoing genocide” against the Palestinian people.
“We’re all trying to take what is — or what would have been — grief, and build that into something formidable, build that into a framework that will eventually aid in the Palestinian cause and liberation for the Palestinian people beyond this; and that starts locally, that starts right now,” Shalash said. “We are trying to break free from the fatigue or break free from the misleading of media that fosters this fatigue and fosters this silence and almost be mouthpieces for Gaza.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, stormed into nearby Israeli towns on a major Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah. Their surprise attack killed hundreds of civilians.
Israel declared war the next day and launched airstrikes on Gaza, destroying entire neighborhoods and killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the days that followed. The war has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, according to the Associated Press.
At least 199 people were taken by Hamas into Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
Three weeks have passed since the initial attack, and Israel is now carrying out a ground invasion in the Gaza Strip. At the time of publication, the Associated Press reported 8,000 Palestinian deaths and 1,400 Israeli deaths.
This is a continuation of a 75-year conflict with previous Israel-Hamas wars in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021. Hamas’ military leader said the most recent assault was in response to Israel’s 16-year blockade of Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
Shalash said she found it difficult to sit in her grief when she observed the resilience and determination being exercised not just by her friends and family, but by all Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
“When I see the call to prayer and them having no electricity, having no water, no food, they have nothing to communicate with each other except the call to prayer through the mosques; and instead of asking for help, they announce to the world that God is there for them,” Shalash said. “They need nobody to mourn for them because of this incredible amount of spirituality and resistance that is embedded within the culture and embedded within the spirit of any Palestinian.”
Heba Latif, co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine and a fourth-year in political science, said she condemns all loss of innocent life on either side, but also feels a responsibility to be the voice for her people. Like Shalash, she has many family members located in the West Bank who have been directly impacted by the war.
“I know I am their voice,” Latif said. “I know they don’t have a say right now because the Palestinians in Gaza don’t have internet, don’t have telecommunications — they are stripped of their voice.”
According to the Associated Press, internet and cellular service in Gaza was out for approximately two days before being gradually restored starting Sunday.
Though Shalash has many close ties to the region, she said it’s been hard to communicate with her relatives as many of them are just trying to conserve their energy and grief for each other while also dealing with resources being cut off from their villages.
“They’re terrified of leaving,” Shalash said of family members in the West Bank. “These are young boys. I had five cousins be killed by Israeli occupation forces within the last two weeks, just being young guys — just being out on the streets.”
Latif also has extensive family ties to the West Bank. Her parents, who were born and raised there, have suffered losses since the conflict escalated. Latif’s family informed her that her 15-year-old cousin had been shot in the street by the Israeli Defense Forces.
“Right now, my family, they are unable to move anywhere,” Latif said. “All borders are closed, they cannot go to a different city, there’s a restriction of movement so right now they’re trapped. They can’t go to schools, they can’t go to work, they can’t do anything due to the genocide in Gaza.”
As the war has escalated over the past three weeks, Latif said her grief has only been magnified as more lives have been lost and the destruction has amplified in Gaza.
“It is just more than devastating to see that it’s still ongoing…cutting all telecommunications from them, bombing hospitals, bombing churches, bombing residential buildings — anything that is needed to live a life, they are bombing it,” Latif said.
With the high death toll, Latif said it is disappointing to see the “ongoing genocide unfolding” with no condemnations of innocent lives lost.
“At the end of the day, Palestinians are just humans that want to live a life where they have dreams and desires and aspirations and they want to have a job, and they just want to live like the rest of the world, and yet they’re being bombed to death as we speak,” Latif said.
