'Deadly blockade' leaves Gaza aid work on verge of collapse
GENEVA - Humanitarians on Friday described horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and fights over water in Gaza, two months into Israel's full blockade on aid, with dire warnings that aid operations are on the brink of total collapse.
The Norwegian Refugee Council's humanitarian access manager in Gaza, Gavin Kelleher, said "thousands of people will die" if nothing is done, as other aid agencies called for urgent international action.
"The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned.
"Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate."
Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on 2 March, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.
Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said last week that it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens, and the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.
'DEADLY' BLOCKADE
"Food stocks have now mainly run out," Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva Friday via video link from Gaza City.
"Community kitchens have begun to shut down (and) more people are going hungry," she said, pointing to reports of children and other very vulnerable people who have died from malnutrition and ... from the lack of food".
"The blockade is deadly."
Water access was also "becoming impossible", Cherevko warned. "There's a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water," she said, describing a scene below her window.
One friend described that the situation had deteriorated so much that there was no water to save "people burning ... because of the explosions" while hospitals were running out of blood, even as mass casualties arrived.
"Gaza lies in ruins, Rubble fills the streets... Many nights, blood-curdling screams of the injured pierce the skies following the deafening sound of another explosion," she added.
The NRC's Kelleher meanwhile described an increase in "needs-based looting across Gaza" and condemned what he said was a "manufactured breakdown of civil order".
"Israel is not only preventing food from entering Gaza but it has also engineered a situation in which Palestinians cannot grow their own food, they cannot fish for their own food and they continue to attack or deny access to the little left food stocks in Gaza," he added.
'ABOMINATION'
Humanitarians also decried the mass displacement, with nearly the entire Gaza population being forced to shift multiple times before the brief ceasefire.
Since the resumption of hostilities, Cherevko said more than 420,000 people have been forced to flee again, many "with only the clothes on their backs" and were shot at as they tried to reach overcrowded shelters.
Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's deputy head of operations, said civilians were facing "an overwhelming daily struggle to survive" the hostilities, as well as repeated displacement and lack of humanitarian aid.
The World Health Organization's emergencies director Mike Ryan called the situation an "abomination".
"We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza," he told reporters on Thursday.
Cherevko slammed decision-makers who "have watched in silence the endless scenes of bloodied children, of severed limbs, of grieving parents move swiftly across their screens, month after month after month".
"How much more blood must be spilled before enough become enough?"
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
10 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Leading with purpose: Woolworths is hooked on sustainable seafood
The world's oceans — their natural infrastructure, chemistry, and biodiversity — power the life-giving systems that make Earth habitable. From the oxygen we breathe, to the seafood on our plates, and their ability to regulate temperatures, the oceans sustain us in ways both visible and invisible. For centuries, the oceans have also served as vital arteries of trade, culture, and global connection. In recognition of their immense value, the UN declared June 8 as World Oceans Day — a moment to celebrate the wonder of the oceans and galvanise action to protect our oceans for future generations. This year's World Oceans Day theme, 'Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us', highlights the ocean's wonder and the need to act with appreciation to protect it, recognising the importance of its role in supporting life on Earth. In SA, Woolworths is at the forefront of ocean stewardship and sustainable seafood. We spoke with Gert le Roux, Woolworths Foods' Aquaculture and Fisheries expert, to learn more. Tell us about Woolworths' sustainable seafood journey. More than 15 years ago, Woolworths launched its flagship, action-driven seafood sustainability programme, Fishing for the Future. This initiative is at the heart of our commitment to responsible sourcing and supporting healthy oceans, thriving communities, and better food choices.
IOL News
4 days ago
- IOL News
Wastepickers play a key role in the fight against plastic pollution
Wastepickers play a key role in the fight against plastic pollution. Image: File Niranjan Shrestha/AP Our addiction to plastics is trashing the planet, exacerbating global heating and threatening our very survival. Since 2022, the UN has been convening negotiations on a Plastics Treaty to address this crisis. In one of the greatest success stories of the negotiations, an International Alliance of Waste Pickers representing 460,000 of them in 34 countries has ensured that the draft treaty includes a just transition for waste pickers. As my research shows, there are a host of reasons why this should happen. Among them are the fact that waste pickers provide an important service to society. In addition they are producers of knowledge and ideas. Because they go through our trash and leave behind everything without value, they know better than anyone which plastics should be eliminated. They are also the only people with significant experience collecting recyclables in developing countries. According to the alliance, a just transition for waste pickers involves: recognising and formalising waste pickers' role; registration; meaningful involvement in policy-making and implementation; social protection and fair remuneration; and capacity building and organisational support. As the world's leaders meet in Ottawa for the current round of negotiations, the alliance's challenge is to ensure commitments to waste pickers make it into the final text. South Africa's approach to waste picker integration demonstrates how they can be protected. A waste picker sorts through plastic bottle waste at the Dandora garbage dump where people scavenge through the landfill for re-usables and recyclables that can be re-sold. Image: Tony Karumba / AFP A working model As the Reclaim, Revalue, Reframe website my colleagues and I created explains, South Africa's just transition for waste pickers is grounded in an approach that I call 'participatory evidence-based policy-making'. I first used this approach when I facilitated the three-year process to develop government's Waste Picker Integration Guideline for South Africa. A series of education workshops combined waste pickers' knowledge with analysis of academic research. In this way, a working group of various stakeholders agreed on the content of the guideline. The key to our success was to start by agreeing on what existed. In the past, government and industry treated waste pickers as poor, marginal people in need of help. But research showed waste pickers collected 80%-90% of the used packaging and paper recycled in South Africa. It became clear that it was waste pickers who were subsidising government and industry and that they were the experts on getting recyclables out of the environment. Based on this analysis, the working group defined waste picker integration as the creation of a formally planned recycling system that: values and improves the present role of waste pickers builds on the strengths of their existing system for collecting and revaluing recyclables includes waste pickers as key partners in its design, implementation, evaluation and revision. The group also agreed on integration principles. They include redress, improved incomes and working conditions, and valuing waste pickers' expertise. Melanie Samson is an Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Johannesburg. Image: The Conversation Now, South African municipalities and industry are required to make this work in practice. South Africa has regulations which make producers responsible for the impact of their products after consumption. The rules require industry to pay a service fee to waste pickers registered on the South Africa Waste Picker Registration System. This is a vital step in addressing racial capitalism, as the entire recycling industry has exploited black waste pickers' free labour. It is difficult to register waste pickers, as they are understandably reluctant to give their personal information to municipalities and industry. Including them in the process of developing the registration system helped to create trust. Justice delayed South Africa's potential to be the world leader in a just transition for waste pickers is at risk, however, because of weak implementation, monitoring and enforcement. Industry is paying the service fee to only a handful of the registered waste pickers. Few municipalities have integration programmes that comply with the guideline. It is unclear what the government is doing to address these legal violations. Fixing the loopholes The solution lies in using the participatory evidence-based approach again – this time for implementation. First, the government should establish a permanent multi-stakeholder Waste Picker Integration Committee to develop and oversee the implementation of a national integration strategy. Second, the government should work with waste pickers and other stakeholders to create a municipal waste picker integration support programme. Third, the government should include waste pickers and other experts in monitoring producer responsibility for waste. Stiff penalties must be imposed on industry for noncompliance. Fourth, companies that committed themselves to waste picker integration by signing the Fair Circularity Initiative Principles should push South African industry to meet its legal requirements to pay and integrate waste pickers. Lessons for the Plastics Treaty The South African experience demonstrates what's possible. The International Alliance of Waste Pickers proposed how the Plastics Treaty could address their concerns. Negotiators should agree to this text. The South African experience also shows that achieving a just transition requires participation at all stages: implementation, monitoring and enforcement. This must be built into the treaty now and the Group of Friends of Waste Pickers nations should agree to keep partnering on implementation. SUNDAY TRIBUNE
TimesLIVE
5 days ago
- TimesLIVE
‘Apartheid Did Not Die' by Mandla J Radebe
ABOUT THE BOOK More than three decades after the fall of apartheid, the spectre of its legacy continues to cast a long, divisive shadow over SA's democracy. Apartheid Did Not Die is a powerful indictment of the persistent structures of racial power and economic inequality that continue to shape the nation. Prof Mandla J Radebe confronts the unsettling truth that for many, the democratic era has not dismantled the architecture of apartheid, it has merely repainted it. He interrogates the role of the media in shaping public consciousness and maintaining elite hegemony. Through explorations of the endurance of racial capitalism, and sharp media and political analysis, Apartheid Did Not Die challenges us to reckon with the unfinished business of justice and true liberation. EXTRACT A Cathartic Moment Since the government's bold announcement that it would approach the ICJ under the Genocide Convention to address 'acts committed by Israel' in the ongoing Gaza siege, this principled move was met with widespread applause, especially within progressive circles. As survivors of apartheid, South Africans hold a unique perspective that enables us to recognise when similar systems of oppression and injustice are unfolding. Our lived experience instils a commitment to international solidarity, precisely because it was acts of generosity from people we did not even know who played a crucial role in contributing to our freedom. Therefore, this continues to drive us to stand against any form of injustice to ensure that others do not endure similar traumatic experiences. The government's case was rooted in deep concerns over the 'plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip', highlighting the indiscriminate use of force and the forcible displacement of inhabitants. The government argued that these actions constituted international crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. Moreover, the government presented evidence suggesting that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes, as defined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, were occurring in Gaza. Granted, South Africa is a country of people with diverse perspectives, including those who support Israel. In fact, most organisations representing sections of the white settler community not only opposed the decision but were appalled by it. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) criticised the government's decision to take Israel to the ICJ, accusing it of failing 'to play a role in engaging with both sides' of the conflict. The SAJBD said it 'mourns the loss of innocent life on both sides of the current Israel–Hamas conflict'. The use of the words 'war' and 'conflict' in reference to Gaza obscure a number of historical facts, beyond the reality that this is a one-sided annihilation of the Palestinians by Israel. The number of dead Palestinians, predominantly women and children, speaks volumes. Nonetheless, the SAJBD holds the view that the government is biased in its approach, stating, 'We urged our government to play a role in talking to both sides, and in using their influence to ensure Hamas releases the hostages, following their deadly raid on Israel on 7 October'. Similarly, the official opposition, the DA, criticised the government's decision, contending that South Africa was 'taking sides' and had 'undermined its ability to serve as a neutral mediator'. Its spokesperson, Emma Powell, accused the ANC government of inconsistency, stating, 'It is, however, a great pity that the South African government has consistently ignored gross human rights violations on our own doorsteps, including in Sudan and Zimbabwe'. This retort, often echoed by those who covertly support the atrocities in Gaza, accuses SA of selectively addressing conflicts far removed and affecting non-Africans, while allegedly ignoring crises on the continent. Some 'black' organisations, such as the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), invoke biblical justifications for their support of Israel. ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe argued that, instead of taking Israel to the UN's top court for genocide crimes, SA could have mediated to convince Hamas to release the hostages captured during the October 7 raid in Israel. Meshoe also questioned the validity of the government's case, claiming, 'We also do not believe that the South African government will be able to prove that Israel has the necessary genocidal intent against the Palestinian people as required by the genocide convention'. The opposition by the ACDP and other obscure black organisations to the government's decision to take Israel to the ICJ reflects a painful reality that, in every society and struggle, there are collaborators, those whose minds have been so deeply infiltrated by the enemy's propaganda that they often adopt positions more radical than the oppressor's. This phenomenon speaks to the psychological scars of colonialism, as Fanon articulated. South African poet Mzwakhe Mbuli captures this sentiment poignantly in one of his stanzas: 'ukulimala kwengqondo, ukulimala komuntu' (a psychological wound can be as devastating as physical harm). Of course, the likes of Meshoe were proven wrong by the court, which found Israel responsible for, inter alia, racial segregation and apartheid against the Palestinians. The ruling detailed a long list of abuses and violations of international law that Israeli authorities had committed. It declared Israel's occupation illegal and established clear standards for Israel to provide reparations to the Palestinian people. Indeed, the ICJ rulings align with extensive evidence of grave crimes committed by Israeli authorities, as presented by the UN and numerous experts. In a landmark case brought by SA, the ICJ issued three binding rulings mandating urgent measures that Israeli authorities must implement to prevent the risk of genocide in their military operations in Gaza. Let us now return to why I regard this as a cathartic moment for many ordinary South Africans such as myself. For those of us who experienced apartheid first-hand and continue to live with its physical and emotional scars and its permanent legacies, this case symbolises a reckoning with injustice on a global stage. It is a moment of collective validation for the oppressed, and an opportunity to demand accountability in the face of systemic violence. For many, it rekindles the hope that their own struggles and sacrifices have not been forgotten, and that the fight against oppression, wherever it exists, remains a universal imperative. The ICJ proceedings provided a platform for marginalised voices to articulate the profound impact of apartheid oppression, with the Gaza genocide serving as the focal point. The Israeli government and the apartheid regime were and are, two brutal forces, alike in indignity. Much like the TRC, which served as a vital space to confront the architects of apartheid, such as the ruthless operatives of the Vlakplaas unit, the ICJ hearings resonated deeply with those who suffered under apartheid. For those who once endured such horrors in silence, the ICJ proceedings were not solely about justice for Palestinians, but they also symbolised an opportunity for personal and collective healing, connecting past and present struggles against systemic oppression. The TRC, which was established to uncover the truth, and allow victims to recount their harrowing experiences, and confront those responsible for grave injustices. It served as a symbolic arena where the silenced could reclaim their narratives, shedding light on the depths of their suffering. The scars of apartheid, deeply etched in the national psyche, found recognition through the TRC's crucial role in fostering healing and reconciliation. The testimonies shared during the process transcended personal anguish, and in the process, they became testaments to resilience and the indomitable spirit of those who were oppressed. These stories brought to light both the pain of the past and the courage of individuals committed to justice and equality. The proceedings at the ICJ rekindled these memories, providing a rare and invaluable platform for the Palestinian voice to be heard on an international stage. The Palestinians' experiences of oppression and suffering were unveiled, laying bare, for the world to witness, the harsh realities they face every minute. t brought to bear the universal yearning for dignity and equality and how the Palestinians are resisting the shackles of oppression. Indeed, it is imperative to acknowledge that healing is an ongoing journey. While the TRC, for instance, marked a significant step towards reconciliation, it also revealed the complexities of forgiveness in the immediate aftermath of deep-seated trauma. Critical conversations about justice were ignited, just like the accountability and the collective responsibility to build a more equitable and inclusive future. While celebrating SA's principled stance, we must honour the strength and courage of those who spoke out, even as we confront the ongoing challenges in the pursuit of genuine justice. The ICJ case serves as a reminder that the journey towards truth and reconciliation demands commitment and vigilance; this is the basis upon which a nation liberated from the shadows of its painful past may be constructed. This cannot happen in isolation but requires dedication to international solidarity premised on a genuine commitment to global peace and justice. This is the only way to guarantee that such atrocities do not recur. However, if we fail to counter imperialism, the driving force behind racial capitalism and other injustices, our efforts are unlikely to succeed. It is this very commitment that underpins SA's unwavering support for the Palestinian struggle.
