By Nawab Khan BRUSSELS, A group of young Palestinians living in Belgium Tuesday related their personal painful and horrific experience of the loss of their family members and relatives and friends back in Gaza from the brutal and barbaric Israel aggression.
"My name is Fatma Abumuaileq, I am 11 years old. Born in Gaza but now live in Reet (a town in Belgium). I want to talk about what happened to my family in Gaza. My uncles?’ wives and cousins were all killed," she told a press conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.
"An entire 4-storey building was bombed by the Israeli occupation on the heads of its civilian residents, so I lost more than 52 people," the young girl narrated with tears in her eyes.
"This is unjust and inhumane. We must stop the war against Gaza. Enough of killing innocent children," she said with agony.
The event was organised by two Members of the European Parliament from Ireland, Nick Wallace and Clare Daly, who belong to the Left Group.
Mohammad Halalo. who is living in Zaventem outside Brussels and moved to Belgium 13 years ago, said he lost 30 people from his family members including 14 children.
"I speak to you as a grieving individual. Last Sunday night I watched in horror as the western part of Gaza was massively bombarded. Later I came to know that my family resided in the refugee camp that was at the heart of the devastation," he said.
"Later I received heart-breaking news that my entire family seeking refuge in their home has become victims of an Israeli air strike. My mother Sharifa, my sisters, my brothers and their families all have been killed instantly," he narrated with grief.
"30 lives with hopes and dreams for future have been extinguished in a single strike. These were not just statistics. These were people I knew," said Halalo adding that "it is not a war. It is genocide." "I stand here with my friend united in grief. Humanity must not turn a blind eye to the suffering," he stressed and urged for immediate international intervention to stop the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians.
Khadeja Darabeih living in the city of Leuven, Belgium, for eight months, said she lost a lot of her family members in the war including babies.
"The only reason that Israel bombed them was that they were Palestinians," said the young Palestinian girl.
"I ask you and all the world to help the people of Gaza," she pleaded.
Islam Zakouk living in Belgium for two and a half years said she lost ten members of her family including her father and mother, and her brother and his wife and her sister in Gaza. The only survivor is one brother.
"My situations is very difficult. I am a mother and have two children. The people in Gaza need protection," she said and called for an immediate stop to the genocide.
Adil Attieh, Ambassador of Palestine?’s mission in Brussels responsible for EU affairs, said maybe the European Parliament and the EU institutions "will hear their call for an immediate ceasefire." He noted that more than 12,000 people have been killed by the bombing of Israel Occupation Force (IOF) and over 3,000 are missing in Gaza.
On his part, Nick Wallace said the "European institutions don?’t want to listen to what is happening in Gaza. This is shocking." He noted that the President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that "what Hamas did was terrible. But she did not say what Israel is doing is terrible. The message is clear, Palestinian lives do not matter." "The people in Europe are on the side of the Palestinians. The people have to pressure the media and their own governments to stop this genocide," said the Irish MEP.
On her part, Clare Daly said "it is so painful to have these people here to narrate their personal grief. To share the memories of their loved ones who are no more. To have an entire family wiped out in a genocidal attack while the civilised world stands by in silence." She said this "genocide could not happen without the complicity of the people in this building (European Parliament) and without EU and US governments." Daly said that bigger and bigger numbers of people are now demonstrating in Europe against the war in Gaza.
"It is very obvious that the people of America, the people of Europe stand with Palestine. The people in power are letting us down, she said and demanded an immediate ceasefire and a boycott of the Israeli occupation.
Source: Kuwait News Agency