Gaza City: In an interesting contrast to the widely publicised ice-bucket challenge, a new initiative has been launched by a Palestinian journalist to garner support for Gaza, by pouring a bucket of dust to show solidarity with the Palestinian kids who are being buried under rubbles on a daily basis.
"I have to do something and to send a message all over the world about Gaza," Ayman al Aloul, a journalist who launched the campaign, told NBC News.
"It came to my mind that it's good idea to show the whole picture - how Gaza looks now, rubble, destruction, cement with sand, small rocks," Aloul added.
The new campaign, called Rubble Bucket Challenge, was started by al Aloul last Saturday after discussions with his friends on ways to show support to Gaza.
The idea of the campaign spread swiftly, with the Rubble Bucket Challenge Facebook page getting nearly 2000 likes by Monday morning.
Other hashtags doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter included #dustbucketchallenge and #remainsbucketchallenge.
Israel has been launching relentless airstrikes against Gaza since July 8 where more than 2,100 have been killed and thousands injured.
According to UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 80% of deaths in Gaza are civilians, including dozens of children and women.
The large scale of mass destruction in Gaza has left about 5,510 homes completely destroyed and about 31,000 partially damaged, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes that were caught up in the Israeli air strikes.
Aloul hopes to spread the message about Gaza suffering.
"If five famous people in the world like actors or presidents will do the challenge, that means I succeeded in sending the message about Gaza," he said.
Aloul’s prayers were answered quickly after a Turkish aid official took the challenge.
"This is an alternate to the 'ice bucket challenge' because the children of Gaza get buried under the rubles of their bombed-out homes," Mehmet Kaya, representative of Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in Gaza, was quoted by World Bulletin on Sunday, August 24.
"This is Gaza, the heart of Palestine, where children and women are killed by tons of bombs falling on their heads," he went on to say.
Kaya said he was sending a message to the leaders and scholars of the Muslim world.
"You should take a bucket of dust and pour it over your heads to feel the injustice perpetrated against people of Gaza," he added.
More than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and over 10,000 others injured in Israeli attacks since 8 July, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Celebrities around the world, including former President George W. Bush to Lady Gaga to Oprah Winfrey, have taken the ice bucket challenge and posted their videos on the internet to help raise money for and awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is a neurodegenerative disease.
The viral sensation has earned $62.5 million for the ALS Association, which works to fight the neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
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