Hossam Shabat, aged 23, was killed in Gaza this week whilst working as a journalist. As of March 28, 2025, CPJ’s (Committee to Protect Journalists) preliminary investigations showed at least 173 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza reporting on the horrific genocide being committed there. It is the deadliest period in recent history.

Journalists are civilians and are protected by International Law, but both have been targeted by the Israelis.

On Saturday, 29 March, Peace campaigners in Orkney will be remembering Shabat, and the 50,000+ civilians killed by Israel. They will also be remembering the lives of the hostages who have been killed on 7 October attacks and those still being held as the bombardment of Gaza continues to obliterate the region. A vigil in Orkney will take place between 1 and 2 pm on the Kirk Green Broad Street, to remember all those tens of thousands of lost lives, and the hundreds of thousands with life changing injuries.

In the West Bank, illegal Israeli settlers, brutally attacked  Hamdan Ballal, co director of the Oscar winning film ‘No Other Land’. IDF soldiers then continued the brutalisation and took him captive to a military prison camp. Ballal was taken prisoner along with two other Palestinians. He has now been released but required medical treatment for his injuries.

No Other Land is a 2024 documentary film directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor in their directorial debut. It was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists in what they describe as an act of resistance on the path to justice during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The film was recorded between 2019 and 2023 and shows the destruction of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank, which had been resisting forced displacement following the declaration of an Israeli “firing zone” on their land.

According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 25 March 2025, 906 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of those, 100 Palestinians, including at least 17 children, who were killed only since the year began (2025).

After the attack of his co-director Yuval Abraham responded to a statement issued by the Academy which failed to mention Hamdan Ballal:

“Sadly, the U.S. Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, declined to publicly support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

“The European Academy voiced support, as did countless other award groups and festivals. Several U.S. Academy members — especially in the documentary branch — pushed for a statement, but it was ultimately refused. We were told that because other Palestinians were beaten up in the settler attack, it could be considered unrelated to the film, so they felt no need to respond.”

It is this silence and failure to report the atrocities taking place in The West Bank and the genocide in Gaza that history will condemn. The journalists in Gaza who are recording and bearing witness to the genocide are being targeted.

In Gaza over 180 children were killed on 18 March, marking “one of the largest single-day child death toll in the last year” according to UNICEF.

UNICEF’s Rosalia Bollen said that hundreds of children had been killed and injured – some with severe burns, shrapnel lodged in their bodies, fractures and amputations. She said:

“The attacks continue, the airstrikes continue, tank shelling, shooting and displacement orders continue…people keep being pushed around with very few belongings.”

The UK continues to sell arms and military parts to Israel and provide it with reconnaissance intelligence via its airbase in Cyprus.

In Rafah after an Israeli ground invasion, a UN humanitarian and Red Crescent team attempted to extract casualties and recover ambulances trapped there, but they were unable to reach the area.

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, commented:

“The UN and our partners are responding to people’s deepening needs as the situation allows it, but the complete closure of the crossings for the entry of cargo, which includes humanitarian aid – coupled with the ongoing hostilities – is making all of this increasingly challenging.”

Tens of thousands of tents and hundreds of thousands of shelter items are waiting to enter Gaza but are unable to do so because Israel has closed the borders and is preventing humanitarian aid getting in.

The islanders in Orkney who had paused their vigils whilst the ceasefire was in place, came together again last Saturday because they were so appalled by the breaking of the ceasefire by Israel.

From 5 to 12 April there will be an exhibition at the Northlight Gallery, Stromness celebrating Palestinian art and culture. The exhibition will be open every day 11 am to 4pm.

Fiona Grahame