Latest news with #MirjanaSpoljaric
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Gaza war must end for the sake of humanity
Gaza is 'worse than hell on earth,' International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC's Jermy Bowen following her latest visit to the strip. 'We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It's surpassing any acceptable, legal, moral, and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of are watching a people entirely stripped of its human dignity. It should really shock our collective conscience.' She said all states must strive to end the war and return the hostages held by Hamas to their families. 'Israel has a right to defend itself,' she said in response to the October 7th, 2023, raid by Hamas, which killed 1,200 and abducted 150 from southern Israel. However, she argued both Hamas and Israel must abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which prohibits attacks on civilians.' The Geneva Convention must not be disrespected or hollowed out by rule breakers. 'The rules apply to everyone,' she stated before declaring, 'A child in Gaza has exactly the same protections under the Geneva Conventions as a child in Israel.' 'Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Nowhere. Not for the civilians, not for the hostages,' said Spoljaric. 'That's a fact. And (the Red Cross) hospital is not safe. I don't recall another situation (like this) that I have seen where we operate in the midst of hostilities.' Events in Gaza will have repercussions far beyond Palestinians and Israelis because the Geneva Conventions that 'protect the fundamental rights of every human being' are not respected and applied. Spoljaric appealed to all parties for a ceasefire to 'preserve a pathway back to peace for the region.' If this is destroyed, 'the region will never find safety and security. But we can stop (the war) now. It's not too late.' She declared, 'Every state is under the obligation to use their means, their peaceful means, to help reverse what is happening in Gaza today.' Her words are particularly pertinent as the ICRC is the custodian of the Geneva Conventions which provide protection for civilians at time of war. However, this interview coincided with the US veto of the latest UN Security Council resolution that called for an 'immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.' While fourteen of the fifteen members of the Council voted in favour of the resolution, including four of the five permanent members (France, Britain, China and Russia), the fifth the US, cast its veto, the latest on five ceasefire resolutions. US ambassador Dorothy Shea defended the Trump administration's negative stand by saying, 'Any product that undermines our close ally Israel's security is a non-starter.' Her unfortunate use of the word 'product' shows contempt not only for the resolution — which was supposed to end the killing, maiming, and dispossession of Palestinians in Gaza - but also for the Security Council and the United Nations as a world body. As if her words were not damaging enough, US Secretary of State Marco expanded on her remark by stating, 'We will not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas, does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza, draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards Israel's right to defend itself.' There is no 'equivalence' between Hamas, a liberation movement, and Israel, an illegal occupier, according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Rubio said that Hamas could end 'this brutal conflict immediately' by laying down its arms and releasing all remaining hostages, including the remains of four Americans. 'Many members of the Security Council still refuse to acknowledge this reality and performative efforts like this resolution undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire.' He followed up by repeating the Israeli propaganda line: 'This resolution would have only empowered Hamas to continue stealing aid and threatening civilians.' UN agencies argue there is 'no evidence' that Hamas is stealing aid and Hamas has ceased 'threatening (Israeli) civilians' since Israel mounted its 20-month war on Gaza. In this region it is the US and Israel which are flagrantly violating the laws of war and peace as well as humanitarian law as defined in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which was adopted after the horrors of World War II. The body of this Convention spells out regulations which apply to protected persons, including civilians in occupied territory. In addition, the Convention provides rules for hospitals and safety zones, hospital staff, the wounded and sick (including land, air and sea transport to safety), free passage and delivery of food and medical supplies, and humanitarian workers and organisations. As Article 49 deals with the behaviour of occupying powers, it should be applicable to Israel's conquest of Palestinian territory. The Article reads: 'Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.' The Article also states that persons evacuated due to conflict 'shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased.' The Article ends with the prohibition which Israel has ignored since its expansion by war in 1967: 'The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.' That means there must be no Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory in accordance with the ICJ ruling of July 2024. It is unfortunate that that Israel's US-backed Gaza war has coincided with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been condemned and sanctioned for mounting a military offensive against Ukraine which has killed 12,000 Ukrainian civilians out of 37.7 million and wreaked limited destruction on Ukrainian cities, towns and infrastructure. Europe has provided weapons and funds for Kyiv, as this war is on European soil and Europeans believe threat hangs over them. In a conflict far from Europe, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza, starved 2.3 million Gazans, and destroyed the coastal strip. There is no comparison between the two conflicts, but 'double standards' instead of the Geneva Conventions have ruled. As global popular outrage over US-backed Israel's brutal behaviour and violations of the laws of war has peaked, Europe has finally responded. On May 28th, Spain, Ireland, and Norway recognised a Palestinian State. Last week French President Emmanuel Macron warned of 'double standards' and called for return to the 'two state solution' by creating a Palestinian state. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer belatedly described Israel's war in Gaza as 'appalling, counterproductive and intolerable.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Gaza a 'human tragedy and political catastrophe,' questioned 'the goal of the Israeli army in Gaza,' and said that the harm to civilians 'can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.' Actions speak louder than words. Bombed and starving Gazans await international intervention.
American Military News
2 days ago
- Politics
- American Military News
Red Cross chief declares Gaza ‘worse than hell on earth'
The situation in Gaza has become 'worse than hell on earth,' the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. 'Humanity is failing in Gaza,' Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. 'We cannot continue to watch what is happening.' The ICRC, a global organization assisting people affected by conflict, has about 300 staff in Gaza. It runs a field hospital in Rafah that was swamped with casualties in recent days after witnesses described Israeli troops opening fire on crowds trying to access food aid. Spoljaric said that the situation in the territory was 'surpassing any acceptable legal, moral and humane standard.' 'The fact that we are watching a people being entirely stripped of its human dignity should really shock our collective conscience.' She called on world leaders to do more to bring the conflict to an end because the consequences would haunt them and 'reach their doorsteps.' Israel's devastating military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 54,000 people since October 2023, mostly women and children. The offensive was launched after a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and seized dozens of hostages. Spoljaric said that while every state had a right to defend itself, there could be 'no excuse for depriving children from their access to food, health and security.' She added: 'There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict has to respect.' International condemnation of Israel has increased in recent weeks after its military pushed to take full control of Gaza after severing all food and aid supplies to the territory's population. Late last month, some aid deliveries resumed after Israel set up a new aid system that bypassed the UN and is now run by a newly formed US organization. Operations at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's three aid delivery sites were paused on Wednesday after dozens of Palestinians were killed by gunfire near one of the sites. ___ © 2025 the Arab News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Gaza now worse than hell on earth, ICRC chief says
GENEVA — Gaza has become worse than hell on earth, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has told the BBC. In an interview at the ICRC's headquarters in Geneva, the organization's president Mirjana Spoljaric said "humanity is failing" as it watched the horrors of the Gaza war. Speaking in a room close to a case displaying the ICRC's three Nobel Peace Prizes, BBC asked Ms Spoljaric about remarks she made in April, that Gaza was "hell on earth", and if anything had happened since to change her mind. "It has become worse... We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It's surpassing any acceptable, legal, moral, and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of suffering. "More importantly, the fact that we are watching a people entirely stripped of its human dignity. It should really shock our collective conscience." She added that states must do more to end the war, end the suffering of Palestinians and release Israeli hostages. The words, clearly carefully chosen, of the president of the ICRC carry moral weight. The International Red Cross is a global humanitarian organization that has been working to alleviate suffering in wars for more than a century and a half. It is also the custodian of the Geneva Conventions, the body of international humanitarian law that is intended to regulate the conduct of war and protect civilians and other non-combatants. The most recent version, the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, was adopted after the Second World War and was intended to stop the mass killing of civilians from happening again. Israel, I reminded her, justifies its actions in Gaza as self-defense. "Every state has a right to defend itself," she said. "And every mother has a right to see her children return. There's no excuse for hostage-taking. There is no excuse to depriving children from their access to food, health, and security. There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict has to respect." Did that mean that the actions of Hamas and other armed Palestinians on 7 October 2023 — killing around 1200 and taking more than 250 hostage — did not justify Israel's destruction of the Gaza Strip and the killing of more than 50,000 Palestinians? "It's no justification for the disrespect or hollowing out of the Geneva Conventions. Neither party is allowed to break the rules, no matter what, and this is important because, look, the same rules apply to every human being under the Geneva Convention. A child in Gaza has exactly the same protections under the Geneva Conventions as a child in Israel." You never know, Ms Spoljaric added, when your own child might be on the weaker side and will need these protections. The ICRC is a reliable source of information about what is happening in Gaza. Israel does not allow international news organizations, including the BBC, to send journalists into the territory. The reporting of the more than 300 ICRC staff in Gaza, 90% of whom are Palestinians, forms a vital part of the record of the war. Ms Spoljaric, the ICRC president, has been talking every day to their team leader in Gaza. The ICRC surgical hospital in Rafah is the closest medical facility to the area where many Palestinians have been killed during chaotic aid distribution by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Like the UN, the ICRC is not taking part in the new operation. A fundamental flaw of the new system is that it funnels tens of thousands of desperate, starving civilians through an active war zone. Ms Spoljaric said there was "no justification for changing and breaking something that works, with something that doesn't seem to be working". In the last few days, the ICRC surgical teams at their field hospital in Rafah near the GHF zone have been overwhelmed at least twice by the volume of casualties in the turmoil of the food operation. "Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Nowhere. Not for the civilians, not for the hostages," said Ms Spoljaric. "That's a fact. And our hospital is not safe. I don't recall another situation that I have seen where we operate in the midst of hostilities." A few days ago, a young boy was hit by a bullet coming through the fabric of the tent while he was treated. "We have no security even for our own staff... they are working 20 hours a day. They are exhausting themselves. But it's too much, it's surpassing human capabilities." The ICRC said that in just a few hours on Tuesday morning its Rafah surgical teams received 184 patients, including 19 people dead on arrival and eight others who died of their wounds shortly afterwards. It was the highest number of casualties from a single incident at the field hospital since it was established just over a year ago. It happened around dawn on Tuesday. Palestinian witnesses and ICRC medics reported terrible scenes of killing as Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians who were converging on the new aid distribution site in southern Gaza. It was "total carnage" according to a foreign witness. An official statement from the Israeli military described a very different picture. It said "several suspects" moved towards Israeli forces "deviating from the designated access routes". Troops "carried out warning fire... additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops". A military spokesperson said they were investigating what happened. It has denied shooting Palestinians in a similar incident on Sunday. Ms Spoljaric said the ICRC was deeply concerned about talk of victory at all costs, total war and dehumanization. "We are seeing things happening that will make the world an unhappier place far beyond the region, far beyond the Israelis and the Palestinians, because we are hollowing out the very rules that protect the fundamental rights of every human being." If there is no ceasefire, she fears for the future of the region. "This is vital. To preserve a pathway back to peace for the region. If you destroy that pathway forever for good, the region will never find safety and security. But we can stop it now. It's not too late." "State leaders are under an obligation to act. I'm calling on them to do something and to do more and to do what they can. Because it will reverberate, it will haunt them, it would reach their doorsteps." The ICRC is considered the custodian of the Geneva conventions. The fourth, agreed after the Second World War, is designed to protect civilians in wars. The Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 were, she said, no justification for current events. "Neither party is allowed to break the rules, no matter what," Ms Spoljaric said. Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas' cross-border attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 54,607 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,335 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the territory's health ministry. Appealing to parties to stop the hostilities, she said: "We cannot continue watching what is happening. "It defies humanity. It will haunt us." She called on the international community to do more. "Every state is under the obligation to use their means, their peaceful means, to help reverse what is happening in Gaza today," she said. — BBC
NDTV
6 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Humanity Is Failing, Situation In Gaza Now Worse Than Hell: Red Cross Chief
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Humanity is failing in Gaza, says Mirjana Spoljaric, ICRC president, highlighting severe suffering. She describes Gaza as "worse than hell on Earth," urging immediate global action to alleviate the crisis. The WHO reports a significant risk of famine, affecting 2.1 million people, with rising hunger and illness. Humanity is failing in Gaza, warned Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to whom it is becoming unbearable to watch the suffering of the people unfold daily in the war-torn Palestinian region. The situation has "gone beyond any acceptable legal, moral, and humane standards", she said in an interview to the BBC. A few weeks ago, during her visit to Gaza, the anguished Red Cross chief had remarked that Gaza has become hell on Earth. Speaking to BBC's Jeremy Bowen on Tuesday, she said "Gaza is now worse than hell". Amid reports of mass sickness, widespread starvation, children howling with hunger, and rising piles of the dead, the International Red Cross chief said, "We cannot continue to watch what is happening in Gaza. We can no longer watch the level of suffering and destruction. The fact that we are watching a people being entirely stripped of its human dignity, should really shock our collective conscience." She went on say that the horrors being seen in Gaza today "is the consequence of the whole world (silently) watching a type of warfare that shows utmost disrespect for civilians - that deprives civilians of their dignity entirely." Appealing to Israel's leadership to act swiftly and take corrective action, Ms Spoljaric said, "Today we are in it, today we can reverse can save lives today. That's why it is important to act now. State leaders are under an obligation to act" to save innocent lives and preserve human dignity. "I am calling on them to do do do whatever they can, because it will reverberate. It will haunt them. It will (someday) reach their doorsteps," a visibly grim Red Cross chief said. On a question by the BBC about Israel saying that its actions in Gaza are "in self defence", Ms Spoljaric said, "Every State has a right to defend itself, and every mother has the right to see her children return home. There is no excuse for hostage-taking, but there is also no excuse for depriving children from their access to food, health, and security." She added that "There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict must respect." According to the World Health Organisation, "The risk of famine in Gaza is increasing." The WHO report, which was released three weeks ago, noted that "The entire 2.1 million population of Gaza is facing prolonged food shortages, with nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death. This is one of the world's worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time." "We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border," WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said. Though Israel says it has eased its blockade over the Gaza strip, Gazans are still reportedly without food or water. Children, malnourished and starving, are found scavenging the streets to find any consumables. "If the situation persists, nearly 71 000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next eleven months," according to the WHO report. The Red Cross is an international organisation that operates in war zones. In Gaza, it has more than 300 staff, most of whom are Palestinians. Red Cross is considered the custodian of the Geneva Conventions in war zones and is there is protect civilians during conflict. The war in Gaza began after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 Israeli nationals and taking over 250 civilians hostage. This was the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. In its response, Israel declared war on Hamas, which is spread across Gaza. In its retaliation, Israel has so far killed several top militants of Hamas, including successive chiefs of the Iran-backed militant group, which also governs the Gaza strip. In the 20-month war so far, more than 56,000 Gazans have lost their lives. The international community has urged Israel to end the war, which, many have said, has already seen a "grossly disproportionate response" by Israel. Israel has repeatedly said that it is only acting in self defence and blames Hamas for using civilians as their shield in Gaza. However, the Red Cross chief has said that there is no justification for current events of starvation and disease. She also noted that Israel's latest talk about "victory at all costs", especially in these times, is deeply concerning.
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Gaza now worse than hell on earth, humanitarian chief tells BBC
Gaza has become worse than hell on earth, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has told the an interview at the ICRC's headquarters in Geneva, the organisation's president Mirjana Spoljaric said "humanity is failing" as it watched the horrors of the Gaza in a room close to a case displaying the ICRC's three Nobel Peace Prizes, I asked Ms Spoljaric about remarks she made in April, that Gaza was "hell on earth", and if anything had happened since to change her mind."It has become worse… We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It's surpassing any acceptable, legal, moral, and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of suffering. "More importantly, the fact that we are watching a people entirely stripped of its human dignity. It should really shock our collective conscience."She added that states must do more to end the war, end the suffering of Palestinians and release Israeli words, clearly carefully chosen, of the president of the ICRC carry moral weight. The International Red Cross is a global humanitarian organisation that has been working to alleviate suffering in wars for more than a century and a half. It is also the custodian of the Geneva Conventions, the body of international humanitarian law that is intended to regulate the conduct of war and protect civilians and other non-combatants. The most recent version, the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, was adopted after the Second World War and was intended to stop the mass killing of civilians from happening again. Israel, I reminded her, justifies its actions in Gaza as self-defence."Every state has a right to defend itself," she said. "And every mother has a right to see her children return. There's no excuse for hostage-taking. There is no excuse to depriving children from their access to food, health, and security. There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict has to respect."Did that mean that the actions of Hamas and other armed Palestinians on 7 October 2023 - killing around 1200 and taking more than 250 hostage - did not justify Israel's destruction of the Gaza Strip and the killing of more than 50,000 Palestinians?"It's no justification for the disrespect or hollowing out of the Geneva Conventions. Neither party is allowed to break the rules, no matter what, and this is important because, look, the same rules apply to every human being under the Geneva Convention. A child in Gaza has exactly the same protections under the Geneva Conventions as a child in Israel."You never know, Ms Spoljaric added, when your own child might be on the weaker side and will need these ICRC is a reliable source of information about what is happening in Gaza. Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, to send journalists into the territory. The reporting of the more than 300 ICRC staff in Gaza, 90% of whom are Palestinians, forms a vital part of the record of the Spoljevic, the ICRC president, has been talking every day to their team leader in Gaza. The ICRC surgical hospital in Rafah is the closest medical facility to the area where many Palestinians have been killed during chaotic aid distribution by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Like the UN, the ICRC is not taking part in the new operation. A fundamental flaw of the new system is that it funnels tens of thousands of desperate, starving civilians through an active war Spoljevic said there was "no justification for changing and breaking something that works, with something that doesn't seem to be working".In the last few days, the ICRC surgical teams at their field hospital in Rafah near the GHF zone have been overwhelmed at least twice by the volume of casualties in the turmoil of the food operation."Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Nowhere. Not for the civilians, not for the hostages," said Ms Spoljevic. "That's a fact. And our hospital is not safe. I don't recall another situation that I have seen where we operate in the midst of hostilities."A few days ago, a young boy was hit by a bullet coming through the fabric of the tent while he was treated."We have no security even for our own staff… they are working 20 hours a day. They are exhausting themselves. But it's too much, it's surpassing human capabilities."The ICRC said that in just a few hours on Tuesday morning its Rafah surgical teams received 184 patients, including 19 people dead on arrival and eight others who died of their wounds shortly afterwards. It was the highest number of casualties from a single incident at the field hospital since it was established just over a year happened around dawn on Tuesday. Palestinian witnesses and ICRC medics reported terrible scenes of killing as Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians who were converging on the new aid distribution site in southern Gaza. It was "total carnage" according to a foreign official statement from the Israeli military described a very different picture. It said "several suspects" moved towards Israeli forces "deviating from the designated access routes". Troops "carried out warning fire… additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops". A military spokesperson said they were investigating what happened. It has denied shooting Palestinians in a similar incident on Sunday. Ms Spoljaric said the ICRC was deeply concerned about talk of victory at all costs, total war and dehumanisation."We are seeing things happening that will make the world an unhappier place far beyond the region, far beyond the Israelis and the Palestinians, because we are hollowing out the very rules that protect the fundamental rights of every human being."If there is no ceasefire, she fears for the future of the region."This is vital. To preserve a pathway back to peace for the region. If you destroy that pathway forever for good, the region will never find safety and security. But we can stop it now. It's not too late.""State leaders are under an obligation to act. I'm calling on them to do something and to do more and to do what they can. Because it will reverberate, it will haunt them, it would reach their doorsteps."The ICRC is considered the custodian of the Geneva conventions. The fourth, agreed after the Second World War, is designed to protect civilians in Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 were, she said, no justification for current events."Neither party is allowed to break the rules, no matter what," Ms Spoljaric launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas' cross-border attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 54,607 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,335 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the territory's health to parties to stop the hostilities, she said: "We cannot continue watching what is happening."It defies humanity. It will haunt us."She called on the international community to do more. "Every state is under the obligation to use their means, their peaceful means, to help reverse what is happening in Gaza today," she said.
