Latest news with #OxfamInternational
Days of Palestine
2 days ago
- Health
- Days of Palestine
Oxfam Blasts Israel's ‘Engineered Starvation' in Gaza
DaysofPal- In light of a worsening famine and expanding humanitarian crisis, Oxfam International has harshly condemned Israel's meager efforts to lift its blockade of Gaza and warned that current aid initiatives are dangerously inadequate. 'Deadly airdrops and a trickle of trucks won't undo months of engineered starvation in Gaza,' said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead for Israel and Palestine. She stressed that only a full and immediate reopening of all land crossings, combined with a permanent ceasefire, can prevent further mass death. 'What's needed is the immediate opening of all crossings for full, unhindered, and safe aid delivery across all of Gaza and a permanent ceasefire,' Khalidi added. 'Anything less risks being little more than a tactical gesture.' The organization's statement comes after the Israeli occupation forces allowed limited aid to be dropped by air over Gaza on Saturday night, measures widely seen by humanitarian agencies as symbolic and insufficient. Rachel Cummings, humanitarian director at Save the Children UK, echoed Oxfam's criticism. She called air drops random and inefficient, noting that each one delivers the equivalent of just a single truckload of aid. 'We need to enable the United Nations system to manage distribution operations. As humanitarian agencies, we know how to distribute aid safely and humanely,' she said in an interview with ABC News. Cummings described the situation in Gaza as catastrophic: 'Children are starving. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from malnutrition. Aid must reach people by land.' The warnings come amid mounting international concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where famine is tightening its grip across the territory. Since Israel's total closure of all crossings on March 2, the entry of food and medical supplies has effectively stopped. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 133 Palestinians have died of starvation and malnutrition since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, including 87 children. Humanitarian groups warn that more than 100,000 children are now at risk of severe hunger or death. Oxfam, Save the Children, and other humanitarian organizations are urging the international community to press Israel to fully lift its blockade and allow sustained, land-based delivery of aid. Shortlink for this post:
Middle East Eye
3 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Oxfam warns that minor aid steps by Israel can't undo months of deliberate starvation
Oxfam International has criticised limited Israeli moves on aid access, warning they fall far short of what's needed to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. 'Deadly airdrops and a trickle of trucks won't undo months of engineered starvation in Gaza,' said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead for Israel and Palestine. She called for the full reopening of all border crossings to allow unimpeded aid delivery throughout the Gaza Strip and demanded a lasting ceasefire. 'What's needed is the immediate opening of all crossings for full, unhindered, and safe aid delivery across all of Gaza and a permanent ceasefire,' Khalidi said. 'Anything less risks being little more than a tactical gesture.'
CNA
23-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Israel-Hamas war: Aid agencies warn of mass starvation in Gaza
Save the Children, Doctors without Borders and Oxfam International are among global aid agencies warning of chaos, starvation and death in Gaza, and are calling for the blockade to end. The joint statement comes two months after the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over aid distribution. Blake Sifton reports from Tel Aviv.
Newsweek
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
My Friend Was Murdered by Political Violence Too
In June 2016, British member of Parliament Jo Cox, a close friend who worked with me at the humanitarian group Oxfam International, was murdered on the steps of her office in West Yorkshire, England. Jo was more than a rising star in British politics—she was a humanitarian, mother, friend, and a fighting force of hope in dark times. A man ended her life with a homemade gun, a knife, and a far-right ideology rooted in hatred. I still remember the phone call I got that day—the disbelief that Jo could be gone and that someone was so consumed by political disagreement that he could take her life. I mourn the loss of Jo every year in June. But this year, that sadness became shock as political violence claimed yet another lawmaker's life. The killing of Melissa Hortman, a Democratic member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband Mark, and the wounding of Democratic State Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette were equally senseless. I hope they bring a reckoning with the violence that risks becoming a defining feature of U.S. politics and that has yet to be properly addressed. Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London on June 16, 2016. Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London on June 16, 2016. DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images Public servants should not have to weigh the risk to their families before casting a vote or answering constituents' questions. Political violence doesn't just harm individuals—it poisons the system, scares away good people, and chips away at public trust. Some of the responsibility for building a national consensus against political violence—or at the very least not fueling the violence—sits with the president and his staff. So far this administration's instinct has been to pour fuel on the flames by demonizing its critics, its political opponents, even judges and civil servants who emerge as obstacles to its agenda. By the time rioters assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, we were well past warning signs that political violence was becoming firmly rooted in modern politics. We'd already seen an assassination attempt on Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords, and a mass shooting that nearly claimed the life of then House Majority Whip Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball game. Later, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker, was attacked in their home and Donald Trump was shot and very nearly assassinated while at a rally before the 2024 election. According to the Capitol Police, threats against members of Congress have more than doubled, from fewer than 4,000 in 2017 to nearly 10,000 in 2021. After Jo's murder, the U.K. government took immediate steps to better protect members of Parliament. Security increased at constituency offices. Parliament members were given funds to install home protection systems. Likewise, members of the U.S. Congress can now be reimbursed for home security systems, and a $2.1 billion emergency spending package after Jan. 6 helped plug gaps in Capitol security. Ramped up security is a reasonable response, but it doesn't get at the root causes of the extremism that makes protecting lawmakers from physical violence necessary in the first place. To do that, we need to build a real national consensus against political violence, and refocus the federal government on stopping violence before it happens. Beyond legislation, members of Congress and lawmakers all the way down to the local level should take care with their words that may make a policy disagreement personal. All legislators have a responsibility not to incite or advocate political violence and should condemn it whenever and wherever it happens. They should also actively speak out to dissuade others from fomenting violence and publicly counter narratives that feed into dangerous speech and promotion of violence, including in their use of social and broadcast media. Jo said in her maiden speech to the U.K. Parliament, "We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divides us." It was a courageous call to all of us. She believed in her and our own ability to work for better politics and protect the freedoms of speech and association, and that her democracy was worth protecting and fighting for. I believe our American democracy is also worth saving and that any alternative is unacceptable. Nicole Widdersheim served in the Bush, Obama, and first Trump administrations and is deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
The Herald
05-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald
Civil society leaves UN development summit feeling unheard
Still, certain initiatives — such as an alliance to tax the super-rich or plans to slap new levies on premium and private-jet flying — were widely celebrated among CSOs. Their main complaint was a lack of access, with accusations ranging from difficulties obtaining accreditations to exclusion from key negotiations, prompting CSO delegates to hold a protest at the conference's venue on its final day. "We've witnessed an unprecedented wave of restrictions and lack of attention to the voice of civil society," Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, executive director of the Nigeria Network of NGOs, told Reuters, adding a new mechanism was needed to insert their perspective into global decision-making. UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed acknowledged CSOs' grievances in Thursday's closing press briefing and said the UN would endeavour to "expand the space" for them. "The UN was built to defend human rights — if it cedes to the global trend of shrinking civic space, it'll undermine its legitimacy," said Hernan Saenz of Oxfam International. In a joint declaration on Sunday, the CSOs denounced the international financial system as unjust and called for its "complete overhaul". Despite the pervasive discontent, all CSO representatives interviewed by Reuters said they ultimately believed in the UN system. Hirotaka Koike, a board member at the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation, said he did so because it was the only place where all countries were treated equally. "Yes, there are bureaucracies. Yes, there are a lot of processes. But what else do we have?" Reuters
