Archiv: Nahrung / Lebensmittel / Versorgung / Hunger / Hungersnot / food / supply / care / hunger / starvation


04.12.2024 - 21:52 [ CNN ]

‘They killed him on the spot.’ Israel targeted Gaza soup kitchen chef in drone attack, brother says

“This is really purely ethnic cleansing. They’re just killing everybody. This is not a targeted operation,” Hani told CNN. “There is nothing left for them. They’re just destroying homes and kicking people out.”

“This is really reliving the Nakba,” Hani added, referring to “the catastrophe” of 1948 – when at least 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes in historic Palestine, during the creation of Israel.

“Mahmoud, and people like him, were doing God’s work. And that was good enough to put a target on his back,” he said. “He was punished because he was helping people fight the famine.”

30.11.2024 - 00:31 [ Save The Children ]

Northern Gaza: 130,000 children under 10 deprived of food and medicine during 50 days of siege

GAZA, 25 November 2024 – About 130,000 children aged under 10 have been trapped for 50 days in areas in northern Gaza that are almost entirely inaccessible to aid workers and not receiving food or medical supplies despite warnings of famine, said Save the Children [1].

Children living in North Gaza and Gaza governates have been almost completely cut off from supplies of food, water, and medicine since 6 October 2024 when Israeli forces declared the area to be a closed military zone, with the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) saying that famine is either imminent or likely already occurring in the area [2].

The UN also warned nearly a month ago that the entire population of North Gaza governorate was at risk of dying yet attempts by aid groups to access the area have been repeatedly denied by Israeli forces.

29.11.2024 - 22:59 [ Middle East Eye ]

Three Palestinians killed in stampede for bread in central Gaza Strip

Two women and „a young girl, died in front of a bakery in Deir al-Balah as a result of a stampede while trying to buy bread“, Deir el-Balah‘s Al-Aqsa hospital said in a statement.

19.11.2024 - 00:00 [ theNation.com ]

Yes, Antony Blinken Should Resign. But He’s Not the Only One.

(September 27, 2024)

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

18.11.2024 - 23:41 [ Truthout.org ]

Tlaib: Blinken Must Resign Over Lies About Israel Blocking Humanitarian Aid

(November 16, 2024)

“Secretary Blinken has continued to lie to Congress and should resign,” she said. “U.S. law is very clear. No nation blocking U.S. humanitarian assistance can receive U.S. weapons. The Biden administration cannot pick and choose when they comply with our own laws.”

“Children are forced to eat pet food and bug infested flour,” she went on. “But Blinken says there is no need to change our own policy. Shameful.”

15.11.2024 - 13:32 [ Middle East Eye ]

UK urged to share Gaza spy planes footage with ICC war crimes probe

(October 30, 2024)

The defence ministry told Middle East Eye: “As a matter of principle, we only provide intelligence to our allies where we are satisfied that it will be used in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, and in this instance, only information relating to hostage rescue is passed to the Israeli authorities.”
(…)
Brendan O’Hara, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson for the Middle East, told MEE it was “inconceivable”, given the scale of the destruction and death in Gaza, that the flights “do not contain footage which would be of significant interest to the investigators from the International Criminal Court”.
(…)
Labour MP Rachael Maskell told MEE: “It is crucial that any intelligence of breaches of international law are shared with the courts so they can assess the evidence and secure justice.”

“I trust that the UK government is working with the international courts to aid them in their work.”

15.11.2024 - 13:10 [ DeclassifiedUK.org/ ]

Revealed: UK military has flown 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel

(May 8, 2024)

British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers.

14.11.2024 - 22:16 [ United Nations ]

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

The present report contains information regarding the efforts of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories to implement its mandate and documents human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan from October 2023 to July 2024. The Special Committee was not able to conduct visits to the occupied territories, but did conduct its annual consultations in Geneva and undertook a visit to Amman, and met with government officials, United Nations organizations and mechanisms, representatives of civil society organizations, youth representatives, human rights defenders, and Palestinian families.

The report raises serious concerns of breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including starvation as a weapon of war, the possibility of genocide in Gaza and an apartheid system in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It documents the impact of the conflict escalation since 7 October 2023 on Palestinians’ rights to food; to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; to physical integrity, liberty and security of persons; as well as the disproportionate effects on the rights of women, children, and future generations more broadly. The report also highlights the ongoing attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and refers to developments in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Member States; to the State of Israel; and to businesses operating with Israel, that in any way contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.

(…)

IX. Conclusions

69. The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life-threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid – resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths – and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law. Civilians have been indiscriminately and disproportionally killed en masse in Gaza, while in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli colonial settlers, military and security personnel have continued to violate human rights and humanitarian law with impunity. Senior Israeli government and military officials must be held accountable, including for using dehumanizing language and inciting violence.

14.11.2024 - 22:04 [ Common Dreams ]

As US Keeps Arms Flowing, UN Panel Says Israeli Assault on Gaza ‚Consistent With Genocide‘

Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration said it does not believe Israel is unlawfully obstructing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a United Nations special committee issued a report Thursday arguing that the Israeli military‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave bear „the characteristics of genocide.“

14.11.2024 - 21:01 [ Common Dreams ]

Global Fury After State Dept Claims Israel Not Violating US Law by Blocking Gaza Aid

(November 12, 2024)

Last month, the Biden administration—which has approved tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Israel and provided nearly unconditional diplomatic support since October 2023—sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. arms transfers if it failed to take „urgent and sustained actions“ to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

Asked during a Tuesday press conference if the Israeli government has met the letter‘s demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that „we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law.“

14.11.2024 - 19:55 [ Human Rights Watch ]

“Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged”: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in Gaza

To All Governments

– Publicly condemn Israel’s forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza as a war crime and crime against humanity, as well as other violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law by Israeli authorities, and urge them to immediately halt those crimes and cooperate with international judicial bodies and investigative mechanisms.

– Increase public and private pressure on the Israeli government to stop violating international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities, to fully comply with its obligations and the binding orders and advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, and to ensure the entry and safe distribution throughout Gaza of adequate aid and provision of basic services. Consider, in that regard, the review and possible suspension of bilateral agreements with Israel, such as the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as proposed by the governments of Spain and Ireland, and the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

– Suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit violations of international humanitarian law with impunity.

– Enforce domestic legislation limiting the transfer of arms and military assistance for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

– Publicly support the International Criminal Court, uphold the court’s independence, and publicly condemn efforts to intimidate or interfere with its work, officials, and those cooperating with the institution.

– Urge the Government of Israel to grant access to independent, international monitors, including from the UN Special Procedures.

– Impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against Israeli officials credibly implicated in ongoing serious violations, for the purpose of ending these violations.

– Address long-standing impunity by Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups for serious crimes under international law, and support reparations for all victims of gross human rights abuses.

– Support the creation of a register of damages, caused by unlawful Israeli action to persons in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, for the purposes of calculating reparations.

(…)

To the Prosecutor of the International Crimin19al Court

– Investigate Israeli authorities’ forced displacement and prevention of the right to return as a crime against humanity.

13.11.2024 - 18:41 [ United Nations ]

Sudan: Allies of warring generals ‘enabling the slaughter,’ Security Council hears

Ms. DiCarlo condemned not only the RSF attacks but also the indiscriminate airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in civilian-populated areas such as the capital Khartoum and El Fasher, a major city in North Darfur hosting thousands of internally displaced which has been besieged for months by the RSF.

“Both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence,” she stressed.

She added that as the rainy season nears its end, both sides continue to escalate their military operations, recruit new fighters and intensify their attacks, fuelled by “considerable” external support and a steady flow of arms.

“To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan. This is unconscionable, it is illegal, and it must end.”

(…)

The situation in Sudan has been in a freefall since the war erupted last April.

It is now the world’s worst displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people driven from their homes – nearly three million among them into neighbouring countries as refugees, according to the UN relief coordinating office, OCHA.

The war has also unleashed a severe hunger crisis, affecting millions.

04.11.2024 - 07:50 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Why are the state leaders of China and Russia complying with U.S. sanctions against Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Cuba?

(August 7, 2021)

Because they want to.

And almost 8 billion morons on the planet are too stupid to understand this, first of all the bunch who think they do other politics than the imperial complex, the war lobby, “political classes”, rulers and their courtiers.

19.10.2024 - 19:54 [ ABC News ]

‚Beyond horrific‘ conditions in northern Gaza as hunger soars and supplies dwindle, aid organizations warn

Medical staff in the north say they are getting calls from all over northern Gaza asking for help, but ambulances are unable to reach the injured.

„The situation is beyond horrific and is very difficult and indescribable,“ Dr. Taghreed Al-Imawi, a member of the Palestinian NGO Juzoor for Health and Social Development and an OB-GYN doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, said in a statement. „We have seen more than 23 pregnant women among the injured coming to the hospital since last week, wounded either by shrapnel or gunfire, suffering from fractures.“

Kamal Adwan was one of three hospitals that doctors say were ordered to evacuate last week, but medical staff have refused to do so.

19.10.2024 - 06:28 [ Yenisafak.com ]

200,000 Palestinians without food, water in Jabalia amid deadly Israeli offensive

About 200,000 residents in northern Gaza, particularly in Jabalia, are facing critical shortages of food, water, and medicine as Israel‘s ground offensive continues for the 14th consecutive day, reported the Gaza Civil Defense on Friday.

18.10.2024 - 21:30 [ Washington Post ]

The United States can’t just stand by as Israel starves northern Gaza

The Biden administration needs to push its ally with more than just empty threats.

18.10.2024 - 20:48 [ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) ]

Gaza Strip: Acute Food Insecurity Situation for September – October 2024 and Projection for November 2024 – April 2025

One year into the conflict, the risk of Famine persists across the whole Gaza Strip. Given the recent surge in hostilities, there are growing concerns that this worst-case scenario may materialize.

Violence has displaced nearly 2 million people, decimated livelihoods, crippled food systems, destroyed 70 percent of crop fields, severely restricted humanitarian operations and resulted in the collapse of health services and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) systems. Catastrophic acute food insecurity and concerning acute malnutrition levels will continue to prevail if the conflict continues, and humanitarian activities are restricted.

Between September and October 2024, the whole territory is classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). About 1.84 million people across the Gaza Strip are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or above, including nearly 133,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5) and 664,000, in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). Acute Malnutrition is at serious levels (IPC AMN Phase 3), ten times higher than before the escalation of the hostilities.

15.10.2024 - 21:22 [ Council on American-Islamic Relations ]

BREAKING: CAIR Says ‘No Need to Wait 30 Days’ After Biden Admin Threatens to Limit Arms for Israel in Response to Gaza Aid Blockade

In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:

“Although we welcome the Biden administration’s long overdue threat to withhold weapons from the Israeli government, waiting 30 days to do so is unacceptable. The Israeli government is starving and killing the Palestinian people today, right this very moment, in violation of U.S. law. The Palestinian people cannot wait another month for the Biden administration to uphold the law and end its complicity in the Israeli government’s campaign of slaughter and starvation.”

15.10.2024 - 20:53 [ Medical Aid for Palestinians - MAP.org ]

Northern Gaza is being erased – Global leaders must act now to end Israel’s atrocities

The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity. Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map. Under the guise of “evacuation,” Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. This is not an evacuation – this is forced displacement under gunfire. Since 1 October, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents.

(…)

Signatories:

– ActionAid

– Action For Humanity

– Afri (Action from Ireland)

– Amos Trust

– Bloody Sunday Trust

– Centre for Global Education

– CESVI

– Children Not Numbers

– Christian Aid

– Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)

– Comhlamh Justice for Palestine

– Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)

– Embrace the Middle East

– Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN)

– Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS)

– Global Justice Now

– HelpAge International

– Interpal

– Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign

– Islamic Relief

– KinderUSA

– Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)

– Médecins du Monde Spain

– Middle East Children‘s Alliance

– Muslim Aid

– Novact Institute for Nonviolence

– Oxfam

– Plan International Jordan

– Sabeel-Kairos UK

– Sadaka-The Ireland Palestine Alliance

– TDH Italy

– Trócaire

– Trinity College Dublin Students‘ Union/ Aontas Mac Léinn Choláiste na Tríonóide (TCDSU/AMLCT)

– Vento di Terra

– War Child

– War on Want

– WeWorld

– Welfare Association

12.10.2024 - 22:32 [ EgyptIndependent.com ]

UN says no food has entered northern Gaza since start of October, putting 1 million people at risk of starvation

No food has entered northern Gaza since the start of October, putting 1 million people at risk of going hungry, the World Food Programme told CNN on Friday.

07.10.2024 - 10:35 [ static1.squarespace.com ]

Appendix to letter of October 2, 2024 re: American physicians observations from the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023

This appendix complements the letter sent to President Joseph R. Biden, Vice President Kamala D. Harris, and others on October 2, 2024 by 99 American healthcare workers who have served in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

(…)

In total it is likely that 62,413 people have died of starvation and its compilations in Gaza from October 7, 2023 to September 30, 2024. Most of these will have been young children.

As long as aid agencies and public health experts are denied entry to Gaza the true
numbers cannot be known.
However, if these estimates are accurate they will approximately match the projected estimates of 85,750 total (direct and indirect) excess deaths in Gaza by August 2024 under the epidemics and military escalation scenarios published by a joint project from Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This is the population-adjusted equivalent of 13.3 million deaths and 26.6 million injuries in the United States.

07.10.2024 - 10:06 [ Watson Institute for Internatonal and Public Affairs / Brown University ]

The Human Toll: Indirect Deaths from War in Gaza and the West Bank, October 7, 2023 Forward

Figure 1: Direct Deaths from Violence Reported in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank
(Oct. 7, 2023 – Oct. 1, 2024)
Israeli Fatalities in Israel 1,200
Israeli Fatalities in Gaza 34
Israeli Fatalities in West Bank 339
Palestinian Fatalities in Gaza 41,615
Palestinian Fatalities in West Bank 693
Palestinians Missing/Estimated Dead Underthe Rubble 10,000
Total > 53,887

(…)

Figure 2: Estimates of Indirect Deaths in Gaza (Oct. 7, 2023 – Sept. 30, 2024)15
Estimated Deaths from Starvation 62,413
Estimated Deaths from Lack of Access to Care for Chronic Diseases 5,000
Estimated Deaths from Infectious Diseases, Maternal/Neonatal Deaths, and Others ?
Total > 67,413

25.09.2024 - 15:01 [ New Republic ]

Damning Report Reveals How Antony Blinken Lied to Congress on Israel

The U.S. government’s handling of USAID’s memo led to internal conflict, with one official in the State Department, Stacy Gilbert, resigning in May over Blinken’s statement to Congress.

“There is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid,” Gilbert wrote in a statement at the time. “To deny this is absurd and shameful. That report and its flagrant untruths will haunt us.” (mehr …)

25.09.2024 - 14:42 [ Democracy Now ]

Biden Admin Kept Arming Genocide After State Dept., USAID Found Israel Blocked Gaza Aid Delivery

Blinken’s decision allowed the U.S. to keep sending arms to Israel. Under U.S. law, the government is required to cut off weapons shipments to countries preventing the delivery of U.S.-backed aid.

25.09.2024 - 14:31 [ Propublica.org ]

Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them.

Blinken told Congress, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting” aid, even though the U.S. Agency for International Development and others had determined that Israel had broken the law.

13.09.2024 - 19:20 [ Jonathan Cook ]

How the war on Gaza exposed Israeli and western fascism

Just one example: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the Palestinians as “Amalek” – a reference to a biblical story well known to every Israeli schoolchild, in which the Israelites are ordered by God to wipe an entire people, including their children and livestock, off the face of the earth.

Anyone engaged on social media will have faced a battery of similarly genocidal statements from mostly anonymous supporters of Israel.

Those genocide cheerleaders recently gained a face – two, in fact. Video clips of two Israelis, podcasting in English under the name “Two Nice Jewish Boys”, have gone viral, showing the pair calling for the extermination of every last Palestinian man, woman and child.

One of the podcasters said that “zero people in Israel” care whether a polio outbreak caused by Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s water, sewage and heath facilities ends up killing babies, noting that Israel’s agreement to a vaccination campaign is driven purely by public relations needs.

In another clip, the podcasters agree that Palestinian hostages in Israeli prisons deserve to be “executed by shoving too large of an object up their butts”.

They also make clear that they would not hesitate to press a genocide button to wipe out the Palestinian people: “If you gave me a button to just erase Gaza – every single living being in Gaza would no longer be living tomorrow – I would press it in a second … And I think most Israelis would. They wouldn’t talk about it like I am, they wouldn’t say ‘I pressed it’, but they would press it.”

13.09.2024 - 19:05 [ United Nations ]

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri

112. The General Assembly should recognize that:

(a) Every instance of mass starvation is a form of genocide or extermination, and every instance of starving an individual is torture;
(b) The right to be free from hunger means the right to be free from oppression, exploitation and occupation;
(c) The Palestinian people’s right to return to Palestine is a precondition to fulfil their right to food and food sovereignty;
(d) Israel has engaged in an intentional starvation campaign against the Palestinian people which evidences genocide and extermination.

13.09.2024 - 18:40 [ Michael Fakhri / X.com ]

How was Isr. able to starve 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza at unprecedented speed and intensity? I answer this question in my new report. I‘ll be discussing my report with the @UN General Assembly on Friday, October 18.

28.04.2024 - 07:35 [ Devex.com ]

Exclusive: USAID officials say Israel breached US directive on Gaza aid

Israel is in violation of a White House directive requiring recipients of American military assistance to comply with international humanitarian law and permit the unimpeded delivery of U.S.-funded humanitarian support, USAID officials concluded in a confidential United States paper reviewed by Devex.

The findings earlier this month follow the Feb. 8 issuance of a national security memo from the White House instructing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “obtain credible and reliable written assurances” from U.S. weapons recipients that they will abide by international humanitarian law, and report those findings to the White House and Congress. In Israel’s case, it would only apply to offensive weapons.

21.04.2024 - 06:26 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Wahl für neue Berliner SPD-Parteispitze: Landeschef Saleh ist aus dem Rennen

Saleh hat die Politik der SPD in den vergangenen Jahren maßgeblich gestaltet und die Partei auch in das schwarz-rote Bündnis geführt.

Die SPD-Mitglieder hätten gegen eine „Weiter so“ entschieden, kommentierte Hikel das Ergebnis am Samstag. Das Ergebnis sei ein Einschnitt und bringe die Partei in eine „neue Ära der Sozialdemokratie“. Ähnlich äußerte sich seine Co-Bewerberin Böcker-Giannini, die an die Einigkeit der Partei appellierte. (…)

So stellten Hikel und Böcker-Giannini etwa das kostenlose Kita-Essen für alle Kinder infrage, Niroomand und Bertels sprachen sich hier gegen Änderungen aus.

10.04.2024 - 09:34 [ zentralplus.ch ]

Biden fordert Waffenruhe in Gaza

Biden forderte, dass Israel zu einem Waffenstillstand aufrufe, um den vollständigen Zugang zu Nahrungsmitteln und Medikamenten im Gazastreifen zu ermöglichen.

Derweil treibt Israel sein Vorhaben für eine Bodenoffensive in der Stadt Rafah im Süden Gazas offenbar voran.

10.04.2024 - 09:01 [ CNN ]

Biden criticizes Netanyahu’s approach to war with Hamas as mistake

“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country. I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move in. They’re prepared to move this food in. And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now,” Biden said in the interview.

The comments came in the lead up to ..

07.04.2024 - 23:14 [ United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) / UN Menschenrechtsrat ]

Human Rights Council Adopts Five Resolutions, including a Text Calling for an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza, Urging States to Prevent the Continued Forcible Transfer of Palestinians Within or From Gaza, and Calling on States to Cease the Sale or Transfer of Arms to Israel

In a resolution (A/HRC/55/L.30) on the Human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice, adopted by a vote of 28 in favour, 6 against and 13 abstentions (as orally revised), the Council demands that Israel, the occupying power, end its occupation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem; also demands that Israel immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip and all other forms of collective punishment; calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, for immediate emergency humanitarian access and assistance, and for the urgent restoration of basic necessities to the Palestinian population in Gaza; calls upon all States to take immediate action to prevent the continued forcible transfer of Palestinians within or from Gaza; calls upon all States to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel; urges all States to continue to provide emergency assistance to the Palestinian people and calls upon all States to ensure that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East receives predictable sustained and sufficient funding to fulfil its mandate; invites the General Assembly to recommend that the Government of Switzerland promptly convene the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Convention on measures to enforce the Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem; requests the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to report on both the direct and indirect transfer or sale of arms, munitions, parts, components and dual use items to Israel, the occupying power, and to analyse the legal consequences of these transfers, and to present its report to the Council at its fifty-ninth session; requests the Secretary-General to ensure the availability of all additional resources, including through voluntary resources, necessary to enable the Commission of Inquiry to carry out its mandate; requests the Office of the High Commissioner to deploy the additional necessary personnel, expertise and logistics to the occupied Palestinian territory country office to document and pursue accountability for violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem; and requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on the implementation of the present resolution to the Council at its fifty-eighth session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue; and decides to remain seized of the matter.

The results of the vote are as follows:

In favour (28): Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, Chile, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea, Finland, Gambia, Ghana, Honduras, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Qatar, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Viet Nam.

Against(6): Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Malawi, Paraguay and United States.

Abstentions (13): Albania, Benin, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France, Georgia, India, Japan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, and Romania.

07.04.2024 - 23:06 [ United Nations ]

Gaza: Human Rights Council resolution urges arms embargo on Israel

(05.04.2024)

The UN’s top human rights body adopted a resolution on Friday condemning the alleged “use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza”, while also calling for an arms embargo on Israel.

07.04.2024 - 22:45 [ United Nations ]

Israel’s Genocide Must Not Go Unpunished, Speakers Say as Civil Society Organizations Conference Working on Question of Palestine Concludes

(03.04.2024)

Calling Israel “an extension of European colonialism”, Ahmed Abofoul, a Legal Expert at Al-Haq, said that South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice represents the Global South’s impatience with Western hypocrisy. He criticized the West’s relentless campaign of distorting international law to support their stance — an example is the right to self-defence. There is no doubt that an occupying Power does not have the right to self-defence against the people it is occupying, as those people, according to international humanitarian law, have the right to self-defence. The West’s complicity has made Gaza “not only a graveyard of children but a graveyard of international law”, he asserted. On the UNRWA accusations, he observed that Western democracies moved fast to suspend funding without waiting for evidence, only to discover later that Israel was lying.