Palestinian activist Osama Qashoo has launched a soft drink Gaza Cola designed to raise financial funds for the reconstruction of al Karama Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. The beverage also acts symbolically as resistance and a practical fundraising effort for healthcare reconstruction.
The red can of the beverage features the Palestinian flag, Arabic inscription and graphic design imitating a Palestinian keffiyeh. Gaza Cola has already sold over 500,000 of these tin cans with pricing at Euro 30 for a 24-pack and Euro 12 for a six-pack.
Qashoo, a 43-year-old man who works as a filmmaker and a human rights activist, deliberately selected Al Karama Hospital as one of the targets because of its size. “The hospital is small and therefore the process of its reconstruction might be manageable”.
While he is not yet able to predict the cost or time that the project will take he still retains an air of optimism and says “We are allowed to have an imagination. We have to dream, otherwise we can’t live,” he stated as reported by The Guardian.
Qashoo sees Gaza Cola as a threat to multinational companies especially Coca-Cola which has been accused of funding Israel. He supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and wants this drink to make people think about business’s involvement in wars.
As it is now, Gaza Cola has the capability to export to several countries most especially to the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, South Africa and Kuwait.
Gaza hospitals in ruins
The Palestinian government’s media office estimated that Israel has committed nearly 42,000 massacres throughout the year, leading to a humanitarian disaster marked by the destruction of essential infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.
In a violation of international law, Israel deliberately has attacked schools, mosques and hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
The recent reports revealed that the Israeli occupation’s forces have targeted 162 health facilities, 131 ambulances, 187 shelters, and 456 schools and universities, in the Gaza Strip over the past year.
According to the reports, hospitals across the affected regions in Gaza are facing severe shortages of medicines and other medical supplies.
Doctors killed in Israeli airstrikes
Many doctors have been killed in airstrikes, some are unable to work due to constant threats.
Women in war-torn areas have delivered babies without the use of anaesthesia and over a thousand children have had their limbs amputated in the absence of adequate medical supplies.
Additionally, most women are even forced to use clothes as sanitary pads due to a lack of basic amenities.
So far, Israeli attacks killed 85 Palestinian civil defense members and 986 medics. Additionally, 902 families have been wiped off the civil registry and 36 people have died of malnutrition in Gaza.
