By: Billow Kerrow
Gaza, with a population of 2.3 million people, is an area of 365 sq kms, about half the size of Nairobi County. Under Israeli occupation for over 51 years, it has been under Israeli and Egyptian blockade of land, sea and air since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.
60% of its population are refugees from other parts of Israel who were forced out by the Zionists when they took over the country. Even before the current conflict, 75% of the residents of Gaza were dependent on food aid.
A small self-governing Palestinian territory severed from West Bank and East Jerusalem when Israel colonized Palestine in 1948, Gaza is described as the world’s largest open-air prison. Israel controls its airspace, territorial waters and its borders, and has built an electronic fence and a concrete wall around it. The blockade has devastated its economy and restricted movements in and out of the strip.
Israel had launched law on Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021, killing thousands of Palestinians. Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement founded during the first Intifada in 1987, is the political organization that won the Palestinian elections in 2006, winning 76 of the 312 parliamentary seats following years of disquiet over secular Fatah party’s leadership.
The West fomented anti-Hamas putsch immediately, leading to Palestinian President Mohamud Abbas rejecting the coalition government of Hamas and appointing a Prime Minister from his party to form Government.
In subsequent years, Hamas took over the governance of the strip politically and militarily. The military wing of Hamas, Al Qassam Brigades, was founded in 1992 and is estimated at between 16,000 to 20,000 members.
It is equipped with guns, grenades, improvised explosive weapons such as rocket launchers, antitank missiles and mortars.
In recent years, it is also believed to have drones capability, all developed internally in the strip. The members are based in a large network of tunnels to avoid risk of attack by Israeli forces. Unlike a conventional army, Al Qassam has no vehicles, tanks, fighter aircrafts, anti-aircraft guns, radars et cetera.
But these Mujahids are ready to die to free their country, with the help of Allah. Israeli army has reportedly 500,000 members, ranked fourth most powerful globally, with up to two million reservists. Its airforce is ranked eighteenth best in the world, with 225 F-16s; 50 F-35s, the most advanced fighter jet; 110 F-15s; etc, a total of 600 aircrafts.
It boasts 2,200 battle-ready tanks, a massive ground artillery and a large, equipped naval force, with a submarine. It is also believed to have one of the most advanced air defense system,s including the Iron Dome. Its annual military spending is $20 billion which is more than Egypt, Iran, Jordan and Lebanon combined spending. In all its wars on Gaza, Israel has had the military backup of US, UK, Germany, France among other Western nations.
Although Israeli occupation forces have all the above military power, Hamas leaders recently remarked that “Israeli Defense Forces IDF) is the only army in the world that wears diapers, specifically pampers’! They cannot face Hamas militarily in the battlefield.
Never mind that Israel is a nuclear power, complete with atomic warheads! Yet, after two months of war on defenceless Gaza, IDF has suffered huge losses militarily. The war in Gaza reminds us of the battle between Prophet Daud (David) and Jaalut (Goliath). The latter Amalekites king had oppressed and enslaved the Israelites and driven them out of their land after they transgressed and abandoned their Deen.
Allah, in His infinite mercy, appointed Talut (Saul) as their king to help them fight the Amalekites. By the time their army of 80,000 met the Amalekites, only about 300 remained to fight. Prophet Daud, then an 18-year-old young man came forward to engage the giant Jaalut and killed him instantly. Jaalut’s forces were defeated, and those who survived fled. Allah thereafter gave Daud (AS) kingship, and prophethood. The Quran 2:249 – 251 describes this conflict in detail.
Today, it’s the Israelis that are behaving like the Amalekites, oppressing and enslaving the believers, Palestinians who may be few in number but are ready to be martyred in defense of their land and al Aqsa Mosque.
Allah says in those verses “Those who were conscious of meeting GOD said, “How often has many a small army defeated a large army by GOD’s leave.
GOD is with those who steadfastly persevere.” InshaAllah, our Palestinian brothers will win and Palestine shall be free.
Billow Kerrow is a veteran politician from Mandera County and a fierce critic of the Israeli offensive against the Palestinians in the besieged city of Gaza. This article previously appeared on the Friday Bulletin.
