Editorial: Save Gaza
This week the United Nations Human Rights Office said Israel is letting some supplies into Gaza but not enough to avert widespread starvation.
The evidence of that is on our screens for weeks now and it’s horrific. On Tuesday, UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said: "In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation.”
In a Geneva press briefing, he added that the starvation risk in Gaza was directly resulting from the Israeli government's policy of blocking humanitarian aid.
COGAT, Israel’s military agency that coordinates aid said Israel invests “considerable efforts” in aid distribution to Gaza.
This week Amnesty International said Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip, systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life. It published chilling new testimonies of starved displaced civilians, which it said shows Amnesty’s repeated findings that the deadly combination of hunger and disease is not an unfortunate byproduct of Israel’s military operations, but the “intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months”.
This is all “part and parcel of Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” according to the organisation.
“As Israeli authorities threaten to launch a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza City, the testimonies we have collected are far more than accounts of suffering, they are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.
“To even begin reversing the devastating consequences of Israel’s inhumane policies and actions, which have made mass starvation a grim reality in Gaza, there must be an immediate, unconditional lifting of the blockade and a sustained ceasefire. The impact of Israel’s blockade and its ongoing genocide on civilians, particularly on children, people with disabilities, those with chronic illnesses, older people, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, is catastrophic and cannot be undone by simply increasing the number of aid trucks or restoring performative, ineffective and dangerous airdrops of aid,” she said.
“Healthcare facilities must be equipped with the supplies and equipment they need to function. Civilians must be freed from the constant threat of mass displacement. Trusted humanitarian organizations must be allowed to deliver aid and shelter safely and without arbitrary restrictions, in a way that respects the dignity and humanity of the civilian population. Most urgently, any plan to entrench the occupation of Gaza or escalate the military offensive must be halted,” she added. According to UNICEF, in the last five months since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, an average of over 450 children has been killed every month. There was confirmation yesterday that an Israeli offensive in Gaza City will take place, which is illegal under international law. When will the genocide be stopped?