Akashma Online News

Original entry published June 5, 2010. Updated April 1, 2025.

by Akashma News

It seems like a long time since we witnessed the horrors of “Operation Cast Lead,” Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza during the winter of 2008–2009. The sky burned white with phosphorus, igniting flesh and turning neighborhoods into charred ruins. The world watched—or rather, looked away—as mainstream media buried the truth beneath diluted headlines and pixel-perfect distractions.

Back then, we still believed—perhaps naively—that if the news made it to our screens, it held some shred of truth. But the years have unmasked the performance: an industry of narrative management where paid pundits recite scripts and doctored images compete with fabricated outrage.

In June 2010, the blood of civilians was still fresh on the decks of the Mavi Marmara, where the Israeli Defense Forces raided the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine activists. The world gasped for a moment. Then silence. Our leaders—like President Barack Obama—muttered the same tired lines, unwilling to offend the powerful lobbying engines that dictate policy.

Now, nearly 15 years later, Gaza bleeds again.

Since October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ surprise attack that killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel, the Israeli government has launched its most extensive military operation in Gaza to date. The stated objective: to destroy Hamas. But as the days turned to weeks and weeks into months, it became painfully clear that the targets extended far beyond any military faction. Residential towers, hospitals, schools, refugee camps—none were spared. The death toll has now exceeded 47,000, with the vast majority being civilians. More than 13,000 of the dead are children. Over 70,000 have been injured, and entire generations erased.

This is not a “war between equals.” This is a siege. A collective punishment of 2.3 million people, half of them children, trapped in a 141-square-mile open-air prison. Most of them do not vote. Many do not support Hamas. All of them suffer.

Mainstream media, once again, hesitates. It parrots state lines. It calls this a “war”—as if Gaza, blockaded since 2007, armed with homemade rockets and no air force, is an equal adversary to the most sophisticated military in the Middle East. The asymmetry is not just military—it’s moral, political, human.

But we are no longer waiting for the nightly news to tell our stories.

We are the new press. The free press. The people’s press.

Social media, blogs, underground journalists—this is where truth now lives. This is where the story of Gaza’s agony is being told in real time, in broken English, trembling voices, and photos that scream louder than any talking head ever could.

Don’t forget that while we’re scrolling, Gaza is starving. The Israeli government has blocked food, water, and fuel—weaponizing necessity. Aid trucks are turned away. Humanitarian workers are targeted. The United Nations says famine is imminent, and still the bombs fall.

Ask yourself: How does this continue?

It continues because the silence of good people is louder than the screams of the dying.

It continues because politicians weigh elections more than ethics, careers more than children’s lives.

It continues because a narrative has been crafted—one where occupation is “self-defense” and resistance is “terrorism.”

But we know better.

We are not powerless. We are six billion strong. We are The New Press.

Keep writing. Keep filming. Keep shouting.

Gaza is still under attack. Justice is still denied. But as long as we tell the truth, hope still lives.