Have you seen the smoke?
Have you smelled the fire?
Glimpsed my weakness?
Seen my exhaustion?
Have you seen the parts of me scattered?

– Khartoun Salma, poet, killed, April 8 2026, by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

2,294 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israel since 2 March. 1.2million people have been forced to flee from their homes as Israel continues to do to Lebanon what it did (and still does) in Gaza – flattening whole villages and communities reduced to dust and rubble.

Gaza and The West Bank.

In Gaza, Israel has intensified its campaign of genocide digging trenches, bombing, and shelling. Between 7 October 2023 and 15 April 2026, according to the Ministry of Health, as reported by OCHA, 72,344 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and another 172,242 injured.

Between 7 October 2023 and 22 April 2026, 1,081 Palestinians – at least 235 of them children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Thirty-five of them have been killed since the beginning of 2026. At Umm al Khair in the South Hebron Hills, Israeli settlers from the adjacent settlement of Carmel used barbed wire to block the main route that children use to reach the community school, leaving them without access to education since 19 April.

The Orkney Vigils.

Islanders in Orkney have been holding weekly vigils in support of the people of Gaza since the end of October 2023. This Saturday, 25 April, they will again be standing on the Kirk Green, outside St Magnus Cathedral, Broad Street, Kirkwall, between 1 and 2pm. They welcome anyone who wishes to join them in calling for a permanent ceasefire, and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

The horrors of the Gaza Genocide are extending beyond its borders as the US/Israel War of Choice with Iran, and its retaliation, continue to inflict suffering and deaths across the region. War Crimes are being committed with impunity – but those perpetrating them will be held accountable eventually. For the present all that those who care about the communities and families blown apart by this outrage of military carnage can do is to stand in solidarity with the innocents of Palestine.

The Orkney News articles and YouTube films are being shared with those suffering this onslaught of violence, and gives them a ray of hope that they are not being forgotten about as the economic global consequences of the US/Israel/Iran war takes over the mainstream media news reports.

This is a world conflict : “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” – Matthew 5.9.

Fiona Grahame.