UN refuses to join Israel’s Gaza aid mechanism that ‘breaches humanitarian principles’
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The acting UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Sigrid Kaag, has said that the United Nations will not take part in any mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza if it violates core humanitarian principles, especially neutrality and independence.
In her briefing to the UN Security Council yesterday, Kaag warned that civilians in the enclave are facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, stressing: “Israel must halt its devastating strikes on civilian life and infrastructure.”
She warned that the situation in Gaza requires urgent international action beyond statements and symbolic calls.
“Civilians in Gaza have lost hope. Instead of saying ‘goodbye’, Palestinians in Gaza now say, ‘see you in heaven’. Death is their companion. It’s not life, it’s not hope.” She added: “The people of Gaza deserve more than survival. They deserve a future full of dignity and hope.”
Kaag further cautioned that the current humanitarian aid is far from enough to meet the basic needs of over two million people who are on the brink of famine. She described this insufficient aid as a “lifeboat after the ship has sunk”.
She also expressed deep concern about rising tensions in the occupied West Bank, pointing to the accelerating pace of settlement expansion and land confiscation, as well as increasing settler violence. She warned that these developments are leading to “de facto annexation,” which “If not reversed, this will make the two-State solution physically impossible.”
READ: Israel announces new West Bank settlements
Angela Rayner runs away from Palestine protest in Hamilton, Scotland
RECAP: Angela Rayner cancels by-election appearance amid protests
6.20p.m. update What I saw during Angela Rayner’s farcical visit to Scotland
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In what can only be described as a humiliation for the Labour deputy, she was reduced to scarpering away and answering the few questions she had agreed to from the lawn of a private residence in a small village outside Hamilton.
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Dua Lipa, Massive Attack, Gary Lineker, Primal Scream and Benedict Cumberbatch lead more than 300 figures urging Keir Starmer to “end UK complicity” in Gaza
Other signees include Danny Boyle, Annie Lennox, Tracey Emin and Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos
Famous faces including Dua Lipa, Primal Scream and Benedict Cumberbatch are among the hundreds of people urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “end UK complicity” in Gaza.
The requests were put forward in an open letter to the PM, led by refugee charity Choose Love. As highlighted by Sky News, it demands all UK arms sales to Israel are immediately suspended, that there is immediate humanitarian access for experienced aid agencies, and that the government commit to seeking a ceasefire for “the children of Gaza”.
“We urge you to take immediate action to end the UK’s complicity in the horrors in Gaza,” it reads. It also outlines that children in Gaza are starving, while adequate medicine and food “sit just minutes away” – a reference to the 11-week blockade of supplies to Gaza by Israel, which was lifted last week.
Famous figures from the music world to have signed the letter include Dua Lipa, Primal Scream, Massive Attack, Paloma Faith and Annie Lennox. Names from the world of television and film include director Danny Boyle, Game Of Thrones star Lena Headey, Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Riz Ahmed, Maxine Peake, Tilda Swinton, Dermot O’Leary, Gary Lineker, Laura Whitmore and more.
Elsewhere, artist Tracey Emin has signed, as have model Lily Cole, activist Munroe Bergdorf and Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos.
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Original article continues at https://www.nme.com/news/music/dua-lipa-massive-attack-gary-lineker-primal-scream-and-benedict-cumberbatch-lead-more-than-300-figures-urging-keir-starmer-to-end-uk-complicity-in-gaza-3865812