CLEVELAND — As the world marks the anniversary of the lives lost on Oct. 7, they also grieve for the tens of thousands killed in Gaza during Israel’s mission to bring down Hamas.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll has surpassed 40,000. The United Nations has described the situation in Gaza as a "massive human rights crisis and a humanitarian disaster." Meanwhile, Palestinians globally are calling for their voices to be heard.
“Palestinian voices have been muted and sidelined for such a long time, and I think there is just a deep need in the Palestinian community to be heard in this moment,” said Shereen Naser.
Naser, an associate professor of psychology at Cleveland State University, said in the past year, the dehumanization of Arabs has left the Palestinian community feeling abandoned.
“There's again, this deep understanding that we have two communities in pain, but for Palestinians, there's this ongoing narrative that your pain doesn't matter that your pain is not worthy of response or support, and hasn't been for over 76 years,” said Naser.
In her work, she's seen how the community has responded in multiple ways. Some are leaning on their cultural identity because Palestinians feel as the conflict continues, they are being ethnically cleansed.
“You're watching a lot of Palestinians kind of dig into their culture as a form of asserting that we are here, and also as a form of supporting our mental health to be able to see that grief and show signs of life in the face of all of that death and destruction,” said Naser.
Others, like Steve Sosebee, have expanded their humanitarian work. The Kent native founded two organizations: The Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and Heal Palestine.
Heal Palestine was created at the beginning of the year to increase their support for their children in Gaza. Now, they provide medical care, mental health support and educational resources to those on the ground.
“We have two kitchens that are operating, feeding 1000s of people every day for free. We have an education program where we're opening schools, remote class or makeshift classrooms for kids who are who've gone one year without attending a single day of school,” said Sosebee.
Every day, his teams operate with the little supplies they have because getting aid and doctors into Gaza has been a challenge. To add to that, last week, Heal's Gaza manager, Islam Hijazy, was killed.
“A true humanitarian, she was killed accidentally in a police roadblock or ambush for they were trying to catch somebody who was smuggling guns into Gaza,’ said Sosebee.
As the conflict intensifies in Gaza, here in Cleveland, Palestinians are filling the streets demanding a stop to the bombing and an end to Israel’s Military Occupation.
Chance Zurub continues to watch the horrors his family faces in Gaza.
“When I see, like, a refugee camp being hit, that could be, someone in my family that's going through that,” said Zurub.
After losing more than 30 family members, every week, he hopes for the news that his loved ones are still alive.
“I've lost count at this point. Every time we have like a family Facebook page, and every time you see, instead of it being like updates about people getting married, people graduating things like that, it's like a new martyr in your family,” said Zurub.
To keep going, Zurub leans into his activism, demanding change.
“The thing that gives me hope and faith is that if they're continuing to survive and live like we have to make sure that we're doing something here within the United State,” said Zurub.
As everyone copes differently, at this one-year mark, Naser believes much, if not all of the community wants the same thing.
“Violence is painful, and the first people that get hurt in any violence, in any violence are women and children. We do not want that. We do not want that for the Jewish community. We do not want that for the Palestinian community, but for many Palestinians, the intense focus on Oct. 7 erases the over 76 years of violence that we've been enduring,” said Naser.
For information on Heal Palestine, click here.
