The United Nations High Commission for human Rights issued this statement this week:
GENEVA (9 July 2024) – The recent deaths of more Palestinian children due to hunger and malnutrition leaves no doubt that famine has spread across the entire Gaza strip, a group of independent experts* said today.
“Fayez Ataya, who was barely six months old, died on 30 May 2024 and 13-year-old Abdulqader Al-Serhi died on 1 June 2024 at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. Nine-year-old Ahmad Abu Reida died on 3 June 2024 in the tent sheltering his displaced family in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis. All three children died from malnutrition and lack of access to adequate healthcare,” the experts said.
“With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza.”
The experts said the death of a child from malnutrition and dehydration indicates that health and social structures have been attacked and are critically weakened. “When the first child dies from malnutrition and dehydration, it becomes irrefutable that famine has taken hold,” the experts said.
“We declare that Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. We call upon the international community to prioritise the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel's siege, and establish a ceasefire.”
“When a 2-month-old baby and 10-year-old Yazan Al Kafarneh died of hunger on 24 February and 4 March respectively, this confirmed that famine had struck northern Gaza. The whole world should have intervened earlier to stop Israel's genocidal starvation campaign and prevented these deaths,” the experts said. “Thirty-four Palestinians have died from malnutrition since 7 October, the majority being children. Inaction is complicity.”
As far as I can see, this statement that there is genocide happening in Gaza has received remarkably little media attention. The bombing of a children's hospital in Ukraine has been rightly condemned. The deliberate killing of children by starvation in Gaza has been ignored.
I agree with the closing sentence in this statement. Inaction is complicity.
Hamas committed a war crime in October 7.
That can never excuse the crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated against the people of Gaza since then, with nations including the UK sitting by knowing this is happening whilst doing nothing to stop it.
Will Labour take action on now? It does not seem to be high on their priority list, despite their having lost seats over this issue last week as if they needed reminding of its significance.
The question, in that case, is when will the UK stop being complicit in this genocide?
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
The UK’s only action on this appears to be to call for the ceasefire that’s been on the table for 9 months. This involves releasing the hostages and hamas ceasing the rocket attacks. But being 5000km away and “calling for” a certain thing to be done doesn’t seem to be a viable strategy.
Starmer was interviewed (on the losing seats issue) and point blank refused to acknowledge the problem, resorting to lawyerly wiffle woffle. Meanwhile:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/10/a-game-of-football-a-boom-then-scattered-bodies-video-shows-moment-of-israel-strike-on-gaza-school
&
https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/jul/11/europeans-are-experiencing-a-wave-of-antisemitism-survey-finds
the smoke-screen of anti-semitism will be used to avoid the need to confront the on-going genocide in Gaza, thus confirming in the minds of many in other countries the hypocrisy of much of the political class in Europe and the USA, hands are wrung about murdered children in Kiev but not those murdered in Gaza, different skin colour and a “funny” religion you see.
Also when will the UK stop providing armaments to the genocidal Zionist regime? And when will British forces stop bombing Houtis, one of the poorest people’s on the planet – some of whom are trying to stop the genocide.
As well as the innocents, I have a deep concern for the troops on all sides. Many, will be haunted by images of the suffering they have caused and will be troubled by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
yes, long term it will not succeed.
The effects , the resentment, will remain long term. Even in terms of national interest it makes little sense.
PTSD
The entire surviving population of Gaza as well as the West Bank are vulnerable to PTSD.
Yet I wonder how this might affect the young men and women in the IDF perpetrating the atrocities, and Israeli civilians assenting to these death cult actions in their name. Have they been so dehumanised by training and state propaganda that their own acts do not affect them ?
How does war and aggression affect the peoples of militaristic states like Israel, socially and culturally, over the decades of their conquests to create Greater Israel ?
Have these people caught up in this divine rights mindset have had to create sub humans as their enemies ?
What mental gymnastics are required to survive in this nihilistic culture ?
Thank you for a vital article!
Also, when will our main stream media, including the B. B. C. perform reasonably objectively, honestly’, consistently and less « deep state » manipulatively?
Might their connivance facilitate the under-performance of our successive governments in serving the whole of our country?
“As far as I can see, this statement that there is genocide happening in Gaza has received remarkably little media attention.”
This issue has received a good deal of attention in the USA media via MSNBC and NPR (National Public Radio).
I am aware
But not here
And the UK has to decide where it is on it, very soon
Israel has done what the US did after 9/11 and turned the entire Muslim world against them for a lifetime.
Had we managed to rein them in last autumn it would have benefitted both sides and ourselves but we did not.
More often than not UK foreign policy is slavishly follows US foreign policy whoever is in power.
But who is in charge of US foreign policy? Does Biden even understand what is going on? When he said he had seen pictures of beheaded babies did he think he had?
On the other hand Starmer must understand what is happening in Gaza, that war crimes are being committed and that there is a very strong case that Israel is committing genocide.
YES!
Biden thoroughly understands.
The denial in Labour extends down to the local parties. I could not get anyone to discuss this, and of our local Labour members only ONE has supported pro-Palestinian stalls in town. It comes as a shock when the now-MP brushes supporters aside, but the local Tory leader stops for a lengthy discussion.
Very strange – and predictable
A recent article in the Lancet estimated the number of Palestinians murdered by Israel, directly and indirectly, to be at least 186,000. In addition, Haaretz, a leading Israeli paper, confirmed what many have been saying since October 7th, that the IDF employed the Hannibal Directive, murdering their own people to prevent them being taken hostage by Hamas. The 1200 supposedly killed by Hamas is grossly overstated. But none of this would have been possible without US arms, money and political support.
I am amazed that all the discussion is about this calamity and the US. I have read elsewhere of the pressure from the many, large Jewish groups in America. While much of this is true nothing has been mentioned about the UK. Here ordinary people, I meet, are all appalled by the genocide carried out by Israel. The UK carries as much blame because our politicians actions and lack of condemnation of this genocide.