UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned he could 'end up in The Hague' over Gaza 'cowardice'
Conservative MP Kit Malthouse addressed Lammy in the House of Commons on Monday after the foreign secretary announced that the UK and 24 other countries were once again urging Israel to commit to a ceasefire.
Lammy said that the UK was setting aside £60m ($84m) in humanitarian assistance to Gaza. But the Labour MP for Tottenham stopped short of suggesting his government would be recognising a Palestinian state - which he is under pressure from MPs to do so ahead of a UN conference at the end of this month.
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Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
'A distraction': Unrwa says Israeli and GHF claims over UN aid delivery are baseless
The United Nations Reliefs and Work Agency (Unrwa) has hit back at a smear campaign launched by Israel and the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) accusing the UN of failing to deliver aid and being responsible for the mass famine underway in Gaza. In a video placed by the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, a narrator is heard saying: "While Israel cleared hundreds of trucks that crossed into Gaza, the UN refuses to distribute the aid. These trucks stand idle inside Gaza next to growing stockpiles of supplies. This is deliberate sabotage by the UN." The video then shows dozens of immobile trucks. Juliette Touma, director of communications at Unrwa, debunked the claims that trucks were sitting "idle" in Gaza, and aid within the enclave had not been delivered. "We have 6,000 trucks stuck in Jordan and Egypt full of food and medicines," Touma told Middle East Eye. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "They have not been given the green light to get into Gaza where people are starving." Separately, the GHF chairman, evangelical Christian minister Reverend Johnnie Moore, wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday and to the Under-Secretary General of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Tom Fletcher, on Tuesday, saying he wanted to collaborate with the UN and accused the UN of leaving aid abandoned in Gaza. In the letter addressed to Guterres, Moore wrote that he wished to collaborate with the UN. "The time has come to confront, without euphemism or delay, the structural failure of aid delivery in Gaza, and to course-correct decisively," he wrote. 'We have 6,000 trucks stuck in Jordan and Egypt full of food and medicines. They have not been given the green light to get into Gaza where people are starving' - Juliette Touma, Unrwa Moore said the "crisis was driven by the ability to deliver the food directly to those who need it. The UN's continued reliance on what it has termed 'existing infrastructure' has, in practice enabled the obstruction of aid". Moore blamed the failure of food delivery to civilians on the "manipulation of humanitarian flows by bad actors" without identifying who the "bad actors" were. He called on the UN to work directly with GHF to deliver "food at scale". In a letter to Fletcher, he accused the UN of leaving aid sitting around and failing to deliver it. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, also accused OCHA of being a "propaganda machine" against Israel, which he said purposely undercounts aid trucks heading into Gaza. The campaign comes as mass famine reaches critical levels with two million people on the brink of starvation in the enclave. 'A distraction to the inaction' Touma from Unrwa said that aid had been waiting to enter Gaza since 2 March. On 18 March, Israel abruptly ended the ceasefire that had been in place since 19 January, and has maintained a blockade on the Strip. Touma said there had to be "political will" for UN teams to enter, and added that the smears against the UN were "nothing new" and were distracting from the real issue: people starving in Gaza. "Distractions like these will delay actions that are needed. Children and adults are dying of starvation. Because of this scam of a distribution system [GHF], more than 1,000 starving people have been killed. "It's time to lift the siege, let aid in and release the hostages. It's time to allow Unrwa to do its work. There will be irreversible consequences if we do not." She advocated returning to the existing infrastructure in place managed by Unrwa. Unrwa has been banned from the occupied West Bank and Gaza since October. Children in Gaza show signs of malnutrition and abuse after detention in Israel Read More » She added that there was "a lot of manipulation of information" and called on media organisations to verify the videos being sent. "The media gets fixated on information that one side to the conflict is putting out. That's a distraction from the atrocities including the deliberate starvation of Palestinian people. "It's time for the media to verify these videos and geolocate the trucks and whether these videos are from Gaza or not, and when they were actually stationed there." Unrwa's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday that the mass starvation was "constructed and deliberate". In a statement, he said that GHF's flawed distribution system is not designed to address the humanitarian crisis. "It's serving military and political objectives. It's cruel as it takes more lives than it saves lives. Israel controls all aspects of humanitarian access, whether outside or within Gaza." He also said that airdrops – which Israel had approved – were "the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid". "It is a distraction to the inaction," he added. Starvation More than 100 humanitarian organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass famine" was spreading in the Gaza Strip after Israel blocked humanitarian aid from entering in early March and has been providing woefully inadequate aid via the controversial GHF since the end of May. MEE reported on Tuesday that renowned expert on famine, Professor Alex de Waal, accused Israel of "genocidal starvation" of Palestinians in Gaza with its continued deadly siege on the enclave. 'Because of this scam of a distribution system [GHF], more than 1,000 starving people have been killed' - Juliette Touma, Unrwa At least 122 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of starvation since Israel's blockade resumed in March, including 15 who died of malnutrition on Monday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid at distribution sites run by the controversial GHF, in place since May and manned by Israeli soldiers and US security contractors. De Waal told MEE's live show on Tuesday that the UN is not in a position to declare famine due to Israel's obstruction of access to humanitarians and investigators who could gauge the extent of hunger. However, he said: "It is actually relatively straightforward if you are perpetrating a famine to shut out access to essential information and then say no one has declared famine. "Concealment of famine is an instrument of those who perpetrate it." De Waal added that famine is unfolding in Gaza in "a wholly predicted manner". De Waal is executive director of the World Peace Foundation, affiliated with the Fletcher School of Global Affairs at Tufts University, and the author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine.
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
UAE's foreign minister welcomes French stand on recognition of Palestine
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, welcomed the announcement by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, regarding France's intention to recognise the State of Palestine. Sheikh Abdullah believes this step reinforces efforts by the international community to advance the two-state solution and establish a just and lasting peace in the region. Sheikh Abdullah expressed the UAE's appreciation for this significant decision, which comes at a critical juncture and underscores the need for the international community to uphold its responsibilities and work collectively to revive the political process and bring an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Such efforts would contribute to enhancing regional security and stability, while supporting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent, sovereign state in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions and international law. Sheikh Abdullah also reaffirmed the UAE's unwavering commitment to the aspirations and rights of the Palestinian people, and to continued cooperation with regional and international partners to achieve a just and sustainable solution that ends the conflict and lays the groundwork for a more stable and prosperous future for the peoples of the region. WAM P
Sharjah 24
3 hours ago
- Sharjah 24
Guterres warns of ‘immoral humanitarian crisis' in Gaza
No justification for the scale of destruction In a video address to Amnesty International's Global Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic, Guterres acknowledged the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but stressed: 'There is no justification for the explosion of death and destruction that has unfolded since then.' He described the magnitude of the crisis as surpassing anything the international community has witnessed in recent times. Alarm over global indifference Guterres voiced deep concern over the international community's lack of response, stating: 'I cannot explain the level of indifference and paralysis we are seeing – a complete lack of compassion, truth and humanity.' Gaza's civilian suffering in full view of the world The Secretary-General highlighted the dire conditions in Gaza, where civilians and UN staff alike face extreme hunger. 'Their unimaginable hardship has left them numb and exhausted to the point that they can no longer tell whether they are alive or dead,' he said. He spoke movingly of children in Gaza who reportedly express a wish to go to heaven, believing they may at least find food there. Over 1,000 killed seeking food Citing United Nations data, Guterres noted that since May 27, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to obtain food. 'These people were not killed in combat, but in a desperate effort to secure basic sustenance amid mass starvation,' he added. Call for ceasefire and humanitarian access Guterres reiterated the urgent need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and unimpeded humanitarian access to all parts of Gaza. He affirmed the UN's readiness to scale up humanitarian operations during any truce, as was done during previous ceasefires. A broader global battle for human rights In his address, Guterres warned that powerful forces are working against the principles of human rights and international law, including efforts to undermine the International Criminal Court. 'We are in a global battle for human dignity, for human rights, for justice and multilateralism,' he declared. He called attention to rising repressive tactics and the growing manipulation of digital spaces by authoritarian regimes. A call to action: Uphold rights and demand justice Guterres urged nations to uphold human rights universally and without exception, even when it is politically inconvenient. He concluded by calling for legal accountability, climate justice, and resistance to disinformation and digital manipulation. 'We must build on the hard-won gains, including the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice,' he said.
