BANNING Of Palestine Action In UK Should TERRIFY You
UN warns against return to ‘dark ages’ as children suffer record violations in Gaza
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The UN’s top official for children and armed conflict issued a stark warning on Wednesday to the Security Council, urging immediate action to protect children amid surging violence in conflict zones, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Virginia Gamba, the UN envoy for Children and Armed Conflict told the Council; “The year 2024 witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violence against children, as well as a devastating record of attacks on humanitarian personnel and United Nations staff on the ground.”
“All too often, children continue to bear the brunt of relentless hostilities, indiscriminate attacks, blunt disregard for ceasefires, peace efforts, and shocking disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law,” she said. “All of these, in a context of deepening humanitarian crises at unprecedented levels.”
Gamba said the denial of humanitarian access has become “one of the gravest obstacles to protecting children in conflict zones,” citing attacks on aid convoys, detention of aid workers and bureaucratic barriers to essential services like food, healthcare and education.
“We cannot continue to stand by and watch with no action what is happening to the children globally, and especially in Gaza,” she said. “The scale of destruction and suffering borne by the children of Gaza defies and contravenes every human standard.”
READ: UN warns of devastating civilian toll amid Gaza aid crisis
“There is no justification for depriving children of access to the means for their survival, including access to food, health care and security,” she added.
Gamba said she has called on Israel “to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to civilians in need in the Gaza Strip,” and urged “all parties to the conflict in Gaza to expedite the distribution of aid because international humanitarian law applies to every party, in every conflict, and it must be respected.”
Noting that almost half of all grave violations in 2024 were committed by non-state armed groups, including “killing and maiming, abduction, recruitment and use, and sexual violence,” she emphasized that “this is unacceptable.”
“The deliberate targeting and military use of schools, hospitals, and essential water and sanitation infrastructure must end,” she said, urging states to uphold international legal commitments to protect children.
“Let us renew the global consensus on child protection and uphold every child’s fundamental right to life, health, education, and a safe future,” Gamba said.
“We cannot afford to return to the dark ages, where children were invisible and voiceless victims of armed conflict,” she warned. “Please do not allow them to slip back into the shadows of despair.”
Echoing Gamba’s concerns, UNICEF Director of Child Protection Sheema Sen Gupta told the Security Council: “Each violation against children in every country around the globe represents a moral failure. And each leaves scars that may never fully heal.”
“In Israel and the state of Palestine last year, over 8,000 grave violations have been verified,” she said. “In Gaza, children bear the brunt of this suffering. Nowhere else in the world has such a high number of grave violations been recorded since this Council established the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism 20 years ago.”
“Children are not collateral damage. They are not soldiers. They are not bargaining chips. They are children. They deserve to be safe. They deserve justice. They deserve a future,” she said. “This just cannot be the new normal.”
READ: Hamas urges international, Arab countries to stop Israel’s daily massacres of starving Gazans
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UN warns of devastating civilian toll amid Gaza aid crisis
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UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned Wednesday that ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip are having a devastating toll on civilians, Anadolu reports.
“Our colleagues at the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that Israeli operations, including shelling and bombing across the Strip, continue to have a devastating impact on civilians, reportedly killing and injuring scores of people, many of whom were just seeking aid,” Dujarric told reporters.
He said Israeli authorities continue to restrict the delivery of fuel into and throughout the enclave, “effectively choking off” life-saving services for deprived and starving people.
The UN and its partners on Tuesday attempted to coordinate 15 humanitarian movements inside Gaza, but only four were fully facilitated by the Israeli authorities, he said.
READ: Gaza death toll reaches 84,000 far higher than official counts, new study finds
“Seven other attempts were denied outright, preventing teams from trucking water, retrieving broken trucks or repairing roads. Another four missions were initially approved but then impeded on the ground – although one was ultimately accomplished today. Another mission had to be cancelled by the organizers,” the spokesman added.
The UN has been “extremely vocal, extremely transparent, extremely animated” about the suffering of the people of Gaza, Dujarric stressed.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 56,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
READ: France condemns Israeli strikes on civilians at Gaza aid distribution center
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Glastonbury organiser says Kneecap ‘welcome’ at festival despite Keir Starmer objections
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis has offered her stance on the ongoing debate about Kneecap’s scheduled performance at Glastonbury Festival this week.
Bandmate Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, 27, of Belfast, was charged with a terrorism offence under the name Liam O’Hanna after allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a London show last year.
The band – who have publicly spoken out against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza – recently called the terrorism charge a “distraction”.
Some, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, have since called for the band to be pulled from the festival. UK prime minister Keir Starmer said this week that their performance would not be “appropriate”.
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Pushed for her reaction to Starmer’s comments, Eavis insisted: “There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.”
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It’s time to change the World
It’s been all about keeping super-rich cnuts super rich by having manufactured disagreements that cause wars and the resulting stupendous profits for the super rich bstards who facilitated and managed those wars into being. Why are they committing genocide? We have to stop them and hold them to account.
ed: It’s much more that that. The immediate issue is that we have stop the genocide in Gaza. I am suggesting that in the UK, we can’t accept a genocidalist government and have to depose them immediately. It is totally unacceptable that they are active participants in genocide. That cannot be tolerated and as a consequence we have to depose them.
later: Genocidalists and genocidal facilitators – so I’m referring to states and state enablers e.g. police, army – must be held to account. We can’t tolerate human rights abusers, Fascists.
ed: We can’t accept the UK government actively participating in genocide, facilitating Israel’s genocide by providing RAF surveillance flights, training the Israeli army and providing arms. The UK government’s active participation in genocide is intolerable.
ed: There is a crisis. We can’t accept this government actively participating in genocide. Please note that is more than complicity, it is active participation. Keir Starmer’s UK government has actively supported Israeli genocide and Israel’s continuing genocide.
ed: Genocidalists and human rights abusers are not acceptable as UK ministers or prime ministers.
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