Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation.

In Gaza, October 7, 2023, is viewed as the beginning of the genocide. Over the past three years, Israel killed over 74,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, but many believe that number is a vast undercount. The killing continues despite a so-called ceasefire that took effect about a year ago.

“Every single aspect of the life of the people of Gaza has changed once and forever,” since October 7, says Akram al-Satarri, a Gaza-based journalist. He points out that a large majority of structures in the Gaza Strip have been reduced to rubble and that Israel controls around 70% of Gaza. “The Israeli Air Force is still hovering all around different parts of the Gaza Strip, and the IDF is still hunting Gazans, disturbing the already disturbed life, spreading death and displacement once and once again.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We end today’s show in Gaza, where today’s date, October 7th, is seen as the beginning of Israel’s genocide. In the three years since the Hamas attack on Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people, Israeli forces have killed over 74,000 Palestinians. Many believe the death toll is a vast undercount. This is a displaced Palestinian from Beit Hanoun speaking today in Gaza City.

3 Years Ago My Family Harvested Olives, Not Knowing It Would Be the Last Time

AKRAM ABU JARAD: [translated] The worst three years that have passed in our lives. There is no life, no living, no food, no basic necessities of life. We wait for water from 5:00 to 10:00. And we are living in the streets, homeless, tired, worn out. I mean, a life worse than this? We are not living, my friend. We are dead in Gaza.

AKRAM ABU JARAD: [translated] The worst three years that have passed in our lives. There is no life, no living, no food, no basic necessities of life. We wait for water from 5:00 to 10:00. And we are living in the streets, homeless, tired, worn out. I mean, a life worse than this? We are not living, my friend. We are dead in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Gaza City, where we’re joined by journalist Akram al-Satarri.

I want to thank you so much for being with us. We spoke to you a few years ago as a journalist. You then went on to work with a humanitarian aid organization for several years. Now we’re back, being able to speak to you in Gaza City. Can you describe what’s happening on the ground? We just reported that as Israelis mourn the dead at the music site in southern Israel, they could hear the booms of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip right nearby. Tell us what’s happening where you are, Akram.

AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Well, October 7th was a day when Gaza changed once and forever. The way Palestinians have been living has changed. The way Palestinians have been managing their life has changed, as well. The way Palestinians were defining their life has changed. The Palestinians now are living in a de facto that has redefined everything — their understanding of life, their way of running and managing that life, their way to access things, their way to live, their way to stay in homes, their way to live in tents. Every single aspect of the life of the people of Gaza has changed once and forever.

Around 85% of the built environment in Gaza is already destroyed. Around 74% of the land of the Gaza Strip is also controlled by Israel and the IDF. Gazans have been struggling to........

© Truthout