Save Ibrahim's children: World must persuade Israel to stop 'inhumane killing of civilians' in Gaza
Whole world should have signed statement by the UK and other countries calling for an ‘an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire’ in Gaza
Ibrahim, who lives in Jabalya, near Gaza City, has been facing a “daily dilemma” about whether to send his children for water, while he looks for food. Such journeys, even the short trip to see their grandparents, are fraught with danger. “I'm afraid they'll go and won't come back,” he told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
This is just one account of what life is like for innocent civilians as Israel’s government continues its war against Hamas, continues to restrict desperately needed food and medical supplies, and continues to make plans for a so-called ‘humanitarian city’, which former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said will be "interpreted as being akin to a concentration camp".
Now UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has joined with his counterparts in 24 other countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Canada, Australia and Japan, and the European Union’s equality commissioner to call for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire”. In a joint statement, they said it was “horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid”.
1.6 million people facing starvation
“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” they said. “We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”
Describing the ‘humanitarian city’ plan as “completely unacceptable”, they stressed: “Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.”
The whole world should have signed this statement. With food security body IPC warning that some 1.6 million people in Gaza are at risk of severe malnutrition or starvation, the global community, and particularly the US, needs to urgently increase the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to the point where he is forced to agree to a ceasefire.
Every day that passes, innocent lives are being lost – Unicef told the UN Security Council last week that an average of 28 children are killed in Gaza every day. If Ibrahim’s children are not to join them, the world must persuade Israel’s government to rediscover their humanity, or we will lose our own.
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