Situation in Gaza drastically deteriorates amid Israeli siege: UNICEF
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The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said Sunday that the situation in the Gaza Strip has drastically worsened due to Israel’s crippling siege on the Palestinian enclave, Anadolu reports.
“The situation in Gaza has drastically deteriorated over the last two months due to the imposed siege and the prevention of humanitarian aid,” UNICEF said in a statement on X.
It said Gaza’s children continue to endure relentless Israeli airstrikes and are being deprived of essential goods, services, and life-saving care.
The organization called for the immediate resumption of a ceasefire and the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave, according to government, human rights, and international reports.
READ: ‘This must end’: EU commissioner slams latest Israeli attacks on Gaza
Earlier this month, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved an aid delivery plan for the Palestinians in war-torn Gaza through private US security contractors based on handing over aid boxes to individuals.
The Israeli plan, however, has been rejected by the UN and dozens of international aid groups, saying it runs against humanitarian principles, is logistically unworkable, and could put Palestinian civilians and staffers in harm’s way.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas also decried the Israeli plan as “political blackmail” and “a violation of international law.”
Nearly 2.4 million people in Gaza live completely dependent on humanitarian aid, according to World Bank data.
The Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that Tel Aviv is coordinating with a US firm to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza, suggesting that the aid distribution may start on May 24.
The Israeli army has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 53,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister 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: At least 153 Palestinians killed as Israel intensifies air strikes across Gaza
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Lawyers try to force Keir Starmer to stop arming Israel
Israel’s most extreme genocidal violence beckons
https://www.owenjones.news/p/israels-most-extreme-genocidal-violence
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16 days ago, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, preventing any humanitarian aid of any description from getting in – food, medicine, you name it. That’s caused the price of some staple foods to surge by 200%.
This is a straightforward crime. Indeed, Israel had already repeatedly deliberately starved Gaza and prevented the essentials of life from entering and then from getting to the people who need it – but kept claiming otherwise. This time, they just went and said it – boasting of their criminal violation of international law. Indeed the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister centre on the crime of starvation.
This criminality was apparently finally recognised by the British government. When asked about this siege, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament that Israel is “in breach of international law”.
You might be relieved that, after all this time, the British government has said the obvious.
Not so fast with any kudos for Lammy. The government came out and promptly rebuked him and instead said that Israel was only “at risk” of violating international law. Lammy – a self-aggrandiser devoid of principle or backbone – declared he “could have have been clearer”, backtracking on the truth.
But this was nonetheless a confession. Lammy admitted Israel is violating the law, something he obviously knows is true, which means continued arms sales and diplomatic support for Israel constitute willing and knowing complicity in Israel’s crimes.
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https://www.owenjones.news/p/israels-most-extreme-genocidal-violence
