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Original poster

In wanting Mumsnet to help Judi Dench and Joanna Lumley

880 replies

GiantBranch · 08/01/2026 18:55

Last week, Israel banned 37 international aid organisations from operating in the strip, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF). MSF delivers one in three of Gaza’s babies, and experts warn that immediate action must be taken to prevent a catastrophe.

It has prompted more than 100 leading members of the arts, including Dames Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Joanna Lumley, Sienna Miller, Suranne Jones and singer Paloma Faith, to sign a letter urging popular online platform Mumsnet to join them in demanding urgent government action ensuring maternity care is accessible in Gaza.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-israel-baby-birth-judi-dench-letter-b2896981.html

International aid groups grapple with what Israel's ban will mean for their work in Gaza

Israel has revoked the licenses of more than three dozen humanitarian organizations, and now those groups are grappling with how that will affect aid operations in Gaza

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/israel-united-nations-norwegian-refugee-council-palestinians-doctors-without-borders-b2894091.html

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Original poster
GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 22:17

Also important to pressure the Israeli government to both allow the specialised maternity units which it has blocked at the border in and to reverse it’s ban on aid agencies that provide critical support to Palestinian women such as MSF which has to date supported 1 in 3 births but which Israel is on course to ban

OP posts:
Starch1e · 14/01/2026 19:00

To support healthcare in Gaza, including maternity care and the only neonatal unit still operating you can donate to
https://internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk/emergency-response/israel-gaza-crisis/
Or https://www.uk-med.org/gaza-crisis-appeal/ also has a maternal and child unit.

Original poster
GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 17:59

from the report

“The destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure, combined with restrictions on food and medical supplies including baby formula, has created an environment in which the fundamental biological processes of reproduction and survival have been systematically destroyed, resulting in known and foreseeable harm, pain, suffering, and death.”

https://phr.org/our-work/resources/destroying-hope-for-the-future-reproductive-violence-in-gaza/

Destroying Hope for the Future: Reproductive Violence in Gaza - PHR

Executive Summary After Hamas’ brutal October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza have caused devastation and displacement. Beginning early in the conflict, humanitarian actors and civil society raised significant c...

https://phr.org/our-work/resources/destroying-hope-for-the-future-reproductive-violence-in-gaza/

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Original poster
GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 17:49

Extremely pertinent reporting today

”Israel’s war in Gaza has led to a 41% fall in births in the territory, and high numbers of maternal deaths, miscarriages, newborn mortality and premature births, two reports into the impact of the conflict on pregnant women, babies and maternity care reveal.

Two reports by Physicians for Human Rights, in collaboration with the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel document how the war has led to high figures for maternal and neonatal mortality and forced births in dangerous conditions and systematically dismantled health services – consequences of “a deliberate intention of preventing births among Palestinians, meeting the legal criteria of the Genocide Convention,” researchers said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/gaza-war-fall-in-births-reproductive-violence

Gaza war leads to 41% fall in births prompting allegations of reproductive violence

Israel’s war in Gaza has caused high numbers of maternal and neonatal deaths, say two reports

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/gaza-war-fall-in-births-reproductive-violence

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Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 15:52

Accusing posters of responding to phantom/ imaginary posts was rife too. Haven’t seen it for a while. Terribly time wasting getting into pointless spats and all part of the derailment. Bye Twiglet

Twiglets1 · 14/01/2026 15:45

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 15:10

When in doubt check it out. I don’t recall if you were on that particular thread.

You were the one making a ridiculous claim so no I won't be reading every thread on the CITME board over the last 2 years to try to find something that you imagined.

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 15:10

When in doubt check it out. I don’t recall if you were on that particular thread.

Twiglets1 · 14/01/2026 15:03

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:56

@Twiglets1 Feel free to trawl back and take a look yourself. I’m certainly not revisiting for your benefit.

I'll pass on the grounds that I know it doesn't exist.

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:56

@Twiglets1 Feel free to trawl back and take a look yourself. I’m certainly not revisiting for your benefit.

Twiglets1 · 14/01/2026 14:51

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:48

The conflation of ordinary Gazans with terrorists is an ongoing process.

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It's ok, I knew you wouldn't be able to link one thread where anyone directed hatred aimed at ordinary Gazans.

Twiglets1 · 14/01/2026 14:49

GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 14:43

Look at what you made me do, think we all can recognise this approach, particularly those concerned with coercive control

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We are familiar with this approach - Hamas used it after all.

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:48

Twiglets1 · 14/01/2026 14:28

If you can find one thread where anyone directed hatred aimed at Gazans I would be amazed.

I've never known anyone express hatred towards ordinary Gazans, only Hamas & those that work with Hamas to help them achieve their terrorist goals.

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The conflation of ordinary Gazans with terrorists is an ongoing process.

Clementi · 14/01/2026 14:45

GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 14:43

Look at what you made me do, think we all can recognise this approach, particularly those concerned with coercive control

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Glad you recognise Hamas had no justification for their actions.

Original poster
GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 14:43

Clementi · 14/01/2026 13:17

I know! If only Hamas hadn’t carried out the massacre on Oct 7.

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Look at what you made me do, think we all can recognise this approach, particularly those concerned with coercive control

OP posts:
FKAT · 14/01/2026 14:35

GiantBranch · 12/01/2026 23:02

So do you feel the IRC were correct in how they behaved during WWIi, do you disagree with their head when he said that by keeping silent they had failed in their duty as a humanitarian agency and had lost their moral compass? Do you think humanitarian organistions should always stay silent or only with regards to Israel?

Edited

As the OP says: "Anyway the topic of this thread is preventing future harms and ameliorating a current situation not debating past events"

Twiglets1 · 14/01/2026 14:28

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:10

I feel the same as you @GiantBranch and @LittleMG.

I was shocked to the core the first time I read comments on a thread about Gaza. The sheer hatred on there aimed at Gazans, the facetious, glib and goady comments and the vitriol aimed at anyone who expressed concern was like a parallel dystopian Mumsnet. It shocked me out of over a decade of silence on here.
Mumsnet has changed beyond recognition.

If you can find one thread where anyone directed hatred aimed at Gazans I would be amazed.

I've never known anyone express hatred towards ordinary Gazans, only Hamas & those that work with Hamas to help them achieve their terrorist goals.

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:15

Genericfestiveusername · 14/01/2026 13:09

How could people being horrified at civilian deaths and the lack of maternity care be offensive?🫠

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Parallel universe?

Ellen2shoes · 14/01/2026 14:10

I feel the same as you @GiantBranch and @LittleMG.

I was shocked to the core the first time I read comments on a thread about Gaza. The sheer hatred on there aimed at Gazans, the facetious, glib and goady comments and the vitriol aimed at anyone who expressed concern was like a parallel dystopian Mumsnet. It shocked me out of over a decade of silence on here.
Mumsnet has changed beyond recognition.

Genericfestiveusername · 14/01/2026 13:23

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Clementi · 14/01/2026 13:17

Genericfestiveusername · 14/01/2026 13:09

How could people being horrified at civilian deaths and the lack of maternity care be offensive?🫠

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I know! If only Hamas hadn’t carried out the massacre on Oct 7.

Genericfestiveusername · 14/01/2026 13:09

ArabellaScott · 14/01/2026 12:48

'most people are horrified by the death toll of the last two years and the continued suffering of Palestinians. Everyone I know wants pregnant women to receive adequate care so I console myself that the extreme views expressed on here are not representative of the general population. Who would deny care to pregnant women?'

I recant my assertion this is disengenuous hogwash.

This is offensive, disengenuous hogwash.

How could people being horrified at civilian deaths and the lack of maternity care be offensive?🫠

ArabellaScott · 14/01/2026 12:48

'most people are horrified by the death toll of the last two years and the continued suffering of Palestinians. Everyone I know wants pregnant women to receive adequate care so I console myself that the extreme views expressed on here are not representative of the general population. Who would deny care to pregnant women?'

I recant my assertion this is disengenuous hogwash.

This is offensive, disengenuous hogwash.

BIossomtoes · 14/01/2026 09:16

ArabellaScott · 14/01/2026 09:08

Disingenuous hogwash.

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It’s disingenuous not to know people with no compassion? I don’t encounter this in my life either.

Original poster
GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 09:14

no just thankfully my actual experience

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ArabellaScott · 14/01/2026 09:08

GiantBranch · 14/01/2026 08:53

I find no one in my everyday life expresses similar views to the extreme posters on Mumsnet, most people are horrified by the death toll of the last two years and the continued suffering of Palestinians. Everyone I know wants pregnant women to receive adequate care so I console myself that the extreme views expressed on here are not representative of the general population. Who would deny care to pregnant women?

Disingenuous hogwash.