“I was shocked by the level of destruction. I barely knew the buildings I used to know very well. All gone, becoming a wasteland.” – Gaza Through Their Eyes

The Peace in Gaza has seen the continued bombardment and killing of the civilian population by the Israeli invading forces. Another favourite tool of the Israel Authorities is the use of bulldozers in not just Gaza but across illegally occupied Palestine.

Gaza War Cemetery contains 3,217 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 781 of them unidentified. Second World War burials number 210. There are also 30 post war burials and 234 war graves of other nationalities.

The Orkney News previously reported on the damage that was being done to this Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. It had been maintained in excellent condition by generations of the same Palestinian family. Israel has bulldozed its way across the remains of men who gave their lives during two world wars. Obliterated are the bodies of men, many of them Australians, who died in the fight against Fascism in the Second World War.

UNRWA is the United Nations relief organisation whose vital work delivers medical, educational, and a whole host of other support to Palestinians in Gaza and across the illegally occupied territories. 309 UNRWA workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7 2023 and 81 other personnel who worked with them. In East Jerusalem on 20 January the Israeli bulldozers got to work and demolished the UNRWA facilities in East Jerusalem.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, commented:

“I am horrified by the Government of Israel’s relentless destruction, carried out with total impunity. Israel is dismantling the United Nations and international law brick by brick in full view of the world.

“Attacking UNRWA is tantamount to bulldozing the world’s efforts to sustain Palestinian life. Genocidal rhetoric by Israeli officials that has accompanied these demolitions leaves no room for doubt.”

Israel’s bulldozers make constant forays into The West Bank uprooting olive trees on Palestinian farms and flattening, houses, schools, medical facilities and other buildings.

The bulldozing is part of Israel’s strategy of genocide in Gaza, and to drive Palestinians into despair moving them out so that white Israeli settlers can illegally occupy their lands.

On 1 February, Israeli forces extended the military order linked to their ongoing operation ”Iron Wall” in the northern West Bank until 31 March 2026. The military closure order applies to Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarm refugee camps, all of which have been emptied of residents. Some 33,000 Palestine refugees remain forcibly displaced by the operation, ongoing since January 2025.

When Palestinians are resistant to being driven out, water and other essential services are cut off.

UNRWA installations in East Jerusalem have one by one been cut off from water and electricity, with services having been progressively severed since 27 January, as a result of the implementation of the amendments to the Israeli laws targeting UNRWA. The Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank denounced these cuts as “designed to end [UNRWA’s] longstanding presence in East Jerusalem.” – UNRWA Situation Report 207.

In Orkney the islanders who have been holding vigils for Gaza since the end of October 2023, will again meet today, Saturday 7 February between 1 and 2pm on the Kirk Green, outside St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. They invite anyone to join them who wishes to see an end to the killing in Gaza, and the bulldozing of Palestinian communities.

The islanders have also highlighted the many international aid and humanitarian organisations which Israel is prohibiting from operating in Gaza.

This week Israel reopened the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt. It meant seriously ill patients were able to travel to a hospital, however, Israel continued its bombing campaign, the Crossing point was closed after two days. Twenty one people were killed in this recent attack – 6 of them were children.

With international journalists being unable to get into Gaza to report on what is happening, the work of photographers documenting the genocide is crucial. An exhibition ‘Bearing Witness : Gaza Through Their Eyes’ is an exhibition by UNRWA photographers in Brussels until 1 March 2026. Click on the images in the link above and scroll down to hear the testimony of the photographers.

And this is the latest film by Mike Robertson of the Vigil in Orkney on 31 January.

Fiona Grahame