Read Today's Poem Gaza Changes the World 9/24/26
Gaza changes the world
changes the course of elections
in the White House,
in Colombia,
in Britain
yet doesn't open an airport
or a crossing for
the injured
waiting for death at the end of the road.
It doesn't turn a tent into a house,
or mass graves into jasmine gardens,
or dirt roads into asphalt,
or schools into homes for the displaced.
It might award a medal of honor to a singer
or a dancer,
but not to the martyr,
the wounded,
or the displaced.
It might give you an invitation to a conference
or a dinner party,
but it won't give you permission to leave this tragedy.
It paints you like a mural because you are good at talking about it
on the platforms of strangers,
and kicks you because you refuse to be humiliated for a sip of water.
First and foremost, thank you to everyone who stands with the Gaza Poets Society. Your solidarity makes our voices possible. Please consider supporting our community or becoming a supporting member today. Your belief in our mission means everything to us.
Thank you,
Gaza Poets Society
Israel facing water shortages caused by destruction of Gaza’s treatment plants
By Lorenzo Tondo in Jerualem and Seham Tantesh in Gaza for the Guardian
Five desalination plants shut down for days, while Gaza remains in grip of severe water and sanitation crisis
Israel is facing weeks of water shortages after an exceptional algae bloom crippled much of its desalination capacity, in a crisis scientists say was triggered when Israeli attacks destroyed much of Gaza’s wastewater infrastructure, causing a massive discharge of untreated sewage.
“Pollution does not recognise political borders,” said the Zalul Environmental Association, an Israeli NGO dedicated to protecting the country’s seas and shores. “The discharge of untreated sewage from the GazaStrip into the sea is contributing to the worsening crisis affecting the Israeli desalination facilities. The wastewater contains nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which feed microalgae and cyanobacteria and may intensify their blooms.”
Despite last year’s US-brokered ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by a severe water and sanitation crisis. The Palestinian territory is plagued by rodents, and sewage floods its coastline after Israel destroyed its wastewater treatment plants.
Just across the border, a vast bloom of microalgae stretching up to 60 miles (100km) long has clogged filters at five of Israel’s six main desalination plants, which were shut down for days and have since been operating at a reduced level.
