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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2023 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications A humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza WHAT is happening in Gaza is unfair on the civilian population that is being made to suffer for the sins committed by Hamas terrorists. Israel is justified to go after those who butchered more than 1,400 civilians on 7 October but in doing so it does not have a carte blanche to destroy every- one and everything that stands in its way. Even in war there are moral princi- ples that should be upheld. Gazans were already living in a pre- carious state as a result of severe eco- nomic and social restrictions imposed by Israel over the past two decades. The current blockade that stopped food, wa- ter, fuel, electricity and medical supplies from entering the Gaza Strip simply made the situation worse. What we are witnessing in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe and as his- tory teaches us, in such situations it is ordinary people who feel the brunt and not the intended targets. P. Cutajar St Julian's Fact and fantasy WHEN I was a child, I was once told by a village sage that all animals are des- tined to look downwards. Only human beings are endowed with the faculty of looking upwards. I think that this adage is still valid but wonder whether we utilize fully this privilege. If you go to a restaurant or board a bus you can see that the major- ity of commuters are passionately bent on watching their mobile. Does this mean that men, especially the young generation, are now prone to pass most of their time looking downwards as if living in an animal world, so to speak? Currently there are two wars in full swing because the political leaders of a country had decided to apply the brutal wild animal instinct of destruction and savagery. Though this is a side-line of the argument, I think that it is signifi- cant of the stance. If only these people could fix their glance a little bit higher every now and then, for a few minutes, they could admire the imposing spires, domes and wonder- ful architecture of churches encasing the house of God and door of heaven. If they lift their eyes higher they could envisage glorious crimson dawns, the magic bright lantern of the night, the moon, the galaxy of twinkling stars strewn across the immense cosmos and the occasional silver lining of the clouds (a metaphor of our lives) This could drive their thoughts and reflection towards the creator of heaven and earth. John Azzopardi Zabbar