In the past two weeks 2,400 Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed as a result of bombardment by the Israeli Defence Force. At present, 600,000 displaced people are sheltering in 150 UN facilities as food, medicine, water and fuel are running out.
As of yesterday, Israel is refusing visas to allow UN officials to enter Gaza. This is after UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, criticised Israel for ordering the evacuation of civilians from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. Guterres said that Hamas’s attack on October 7 did not happen “in a vacuum”. Gilad Erdam, Israel’s Representative at the UN said, “The time has come to teach [the UN] a lesson.”
Like so many, I am angry and frustrated at this blatant inhumanity. Because of the pathetic response from our political leaders the street is our only power. I will join the weekly London demonstrations.
Thirty years ago, I was co-founder of the charity, War Child. We brought into the Bosnia Herzegovina city of Mostar a mobile bakery which fed 16,000 people a day. The Croatian besiegers gave us assurance that our food production and deliveries would not be attacked. Even in the midst of that barbarism, there were some rules.
In Gaza today, there are no rules and the only assurance is death.
