It’s been a while since I last wrote about Peace SOS Gaza, but that organization’s distributions of water and vegetables continue to take place. You can find the videos under ‘shorts’ on the Peace SOS YouTube channel.
Unfortunately, the bombings continue too. This is what the coordinator of Peace SOS Gaza wrote to me on 28 May:
Evacuation sign for our area.
We must leave the house immediately.
Pray for our survival.
Their house was damaged, but fortunately the family survived. Still, it’s something that’s almost impossible to comprehend. To receive an evacuation order and have to leave your home within about a quarter of an hour because it’s being bombed…
Late on Monday evening, 29 June, the Peace SOS Gaza contact person sent me another harrowing message:
Sounds of explosions rock Gaza
Sadly, the victims are children.
Images cannot be displayed.
The images are extremely disturbing.
I’ve known the coordinator of Peace SOS Gaza long enough to know that he’s telling the truth. In the past, he would sometimes send me shocking photos, but he doesn’t do that anymore because he knows I can’t cope with them.
When I sent him a message this morning, he said that the sounds of the explosions are getting closer and that the Israeli army is working to expand the yellow zone. He also wrote that they were planning a ‘safe passage’ to relocate the population. He predicted that military pressure and ‘facilitated travel’ will lead to mass migration.
I asked the coordinator of Peace SOS Gaza where the people would go.
Maybe anywhere. It would be better than where we are now.
Unfortunately, the bombing is almost daily.
It is possible that any moment someone walking in the street could be targeted and killed, and others could die.
Then he saw my earlier question about which countries people would go to.
The report did not specify which countries might receive them [the displaced]. However, this could be an indirect way of appealing to international law, which opposes forced displacement.
On the other hand, 70% of Gaza’s population wants to escape the hell they are living in.
Especially those who live in tents. Tragic living conditions. High temperatures. Rodents and insects.
Some intend to stay and will not leave Gaza… Another group is hesitant, but when they remember the famine, the bombing, and all the crises, they decide to leave. A large number intend to leave Gaza and seek a better existence. We are all attached to our homeland, but the only way to escape death is to leave it now.
He then went on to talk about the shortage of water and food.
Unfortunately, sometimes fights break out between people because of their need for water, and this is what happened with one of the trucks during distribution a few days ago. Unfortunately, the need for water and food makes people more violent….
You can imagine how difficult life is in Gaza. Dilapidated tents… high temperatures… rodents everywhere eating people’s food and causing diseases. Insects everywhere. No control measures in place… flies in the morning and mosquitoes in the evening…. Sewage water is accumulating around the tents…. Poverty, hunger, displacement, deprivation… diseases… bombing and death everywhere…. Anxiety constantly grips us…. We could be displaced at any moment, and food could disappear from the markets at any moment….
…I’m lost for words…
After reading the tragic news about the children who died, I decided to call once again for an arms boycott against Israel. Mind you, I’ve been doing that for a very long time, and the major NGOs have even taken legal action over it, yet nothing is happening. Wendela de Vries from Stop Wapenhandel wrote to me this morning explaining that there are many reasons for this, but also because Israel is a major arms supplier to Western countries, with ‘combat-proven systems’…
‘Combat-proven systems,’ I thought… On Palestinian children… This made me feel so sad… I also read on Amnesty International’s website that Israel does indeed promote its weapons using the term ‘combat-proven’…
Furthermore, I read that our Prime Minister, Rob Jetten, ‘gave away Gaza’ in the negotiations with the VVD…
I hereby appeal to Rob Jetten and to Dilan Yeşilgöz of the VVD: dear Rob Jetten and Dilan Yeşilgöz, please let your hearts speak. Rob, you were at the ‘Red Line’ demonstration organized by Oxfam and others… Do not betray your conscience; please think of the Palestinian children. Think of all the children in the world. Let there be peace.
Think of the children! Stop the killing. Let us cherish life. And let us see what happens if, on a massive scale, we start distributing water, food, and medical aid in Gaza instead of carrying out air strikes. May the lorries laden with food, drink, and medical aid that are waiting at the border with Gaza soon be allowed to enter in large numbers. And may we support the forces of peace in Gaza and throughout the world.
Let us cherish life and may there be world peace. And may all heads of government unite to tackle climate change. It is time to listen to the gentle forces and to the ‘climate campaigners’.
It is now or never. Let us look after one another and look after nature.
For: A World Where All Children Can Play.
May-May Meijer
PS When I wrote to the coordinator of Peace SOS Gaza asking him to let me know immediately if fighting broke out during our water or food distributions, he replied that there had been no recent fighting during our distributions. However, this has happened before with distributions by Peace SOS Gaza, during the period last year when there was an even greater famine in Gaza.
Photo: An ambulance driving through the streets of Gaza
Note: This article was first published in Dutch under the title Bericht uit Gaza: ‘Overal bombardementen en dood’ on the Joop BNNVARA website on 30th June 2026.