More words from the UK and 26 others

[PaxAeterna]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g814gy2e7o.amp

More words, strong words but just words none the less.

We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.

What gets me is the absolutely obnoxious response from Israel and the US

Israel say it is is disconnected from reality and the US said it was disgusting

Intervention looks like the EU suspending its trade agreement with Israel. The UK can do the same.

I’m talking about sanctions, visa restrictions, boycotts. It’s time to ramp up the pressure by taking concrete actions against Israel. Words are not enough now. The power to stop this is in the hands of western governments.

It is a human feeling. We all have a sense of collective responsibility towards children or so I would have thought.

When you look at a child who is starving to death before our eyes, your response should be what can we do to stop this. All of us can do something to help stop it, no matter how small.

How does any of that prevent Palestinians being controlled by Hamas: both those who are in alliance with them, as well as the civilians? What about the onus being on other Arab nations to help; why aren't you and others calling for that to happen? What about UN employees being involved in 7/10? How many others have gone under the radar and are controlling things from within? This situation is far from simple.

The Arab plan was disregarded by Israel, you might recall.

And many counties suspended or halted support at that time to ensure aid was directed appropriately.

Right now it is critical that coordinated and concrete actions are taken against Israel so that aid can flow freely into Gaza. That’s what needs to be done to save lives.

Its quite simple now, it just suits some to say it complicated.

Let food in, distributed by UN, IDF can provide genuine security - that would be a start.

How about stop shooting people queuing for food? radical idea i know.

The International community need to pressurise Trump to act against Netanyahu, instead its the Israelis calling the tune with the USA.

I know. Ridiculously simple. Stop killing people.

Free the Formula

I think @ 30% Israeli goods trade is with EU. The block is Israel’s biggest trading partner. People are probably aware that the EU had a report raising concerns about human rights violations by Israel- which would have raised legal questions about the EU-Israel association agreement being broken.

Recently the EU negotiated with Israel to increase aid into Gaza.

It will be interesting to see if the EU thinks concerns about aid into Gaza have been adequately addressed.

I do think sanctions can play a role- they were used during apartheid in South Africa.

100% . Diplomacy isn’t going to work here. They really need to do something like suspending the trade agreement.

Sadly, I am hoping that the horrific images that are coming out of Gaza now and will continue to come out, will change hearts and minds in those countries in the EU who are more currently supportive of Israeli military actions.

It’s not just the trade - but the civil, cultural and scientific links Israel has with the EU which would be at risk. The threat of it being reviewed would be enough I imagine.

There is so much in the press today about the humanitarian crisis.

Israeli religious leaders are even raising concerns:

Church leaders in Jerusalem say they have returned from a trip to Gaza with "broken hearts", describing starving people and children not "batting an eyelid" at the sound of bombing.
"We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of simple meal," the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told journalists.
"This is humiliation that is hard to bear when you see it with you own eyes. It is morally unacceptable and unjustifiable."
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Theophilos III, said his Church would "stand in solidarity" with "the whole people of Gaza".

Amid some of the most severe food shortages in 21 months of war, Pizzaballa and Theophilos III said they met people "totally starved" and gave an account of the widespread destruction.

"We walked through the dust of ruins, past collapsed buildings and tents everywhere: in courtyards, alleyways, on the streets and on the beach," Pizzaballa said at the end of his four-day visit. "Tents that have become homes for those who have lost everything."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2ljemmnyko

Very likely foreign journalists would be killed by Hamas to prevent contradiction of Hamas propaganda and to blame the Israelis for their deaths. What is extraordinary us that the world is not condemning Hamas for perpetuating the situation, stealing food aid, not releasing the hostages and interfering in food distribution.

The world does condemn Hamas over the Hostages, it happens every day.

But perhaps the world doesn't believe Hamas is causing the starvation of its own people?

The new aid centres clearly are not working, yes it may be there is less stealing of food but at what cost to the Gazans?

So what about the account from church leaders? Are they lying too? Denial is wearing thin now.

Starmer to call an emergency meeting tomo on the suffering in Gaza...

Must be panicking in case Israel is found guilty of Genocide/War crimes and they don't want to be accused of supporting the killing.

The narrative is finally changing. Nobody believes Israel’s lies. It’s taken far too long and for people to literally starve to death but at least the narrative has changed - a bit.

Not for many posters here of course but not sure anything would change their view.

Gosh, he'll be issuing strong words that's for sure 🙄 he's such an oily snake. Anything to save his miserable skin.

I wish he’d learn a new word. Getting very bored of everything being ‘intolerable’ whilst being endlessly tolerated.

Now they are going to allow air drops of food. Such an awful idea. So frustrating.

Weren't there deaths last time this happened and they had to drop aid out to sea?
Just open the roads and allow UN to distribute aid as before but no, IDF want more suffering.

Yes air drops killed people. It’s a terrible way to distribute aid. It’s unfair and dangerous and it is only done as a last resort. Usually done in areas where various terrorist groups are blocking aid. Whether here there was already an effective aid distribution system set up (the old UN one)

The rate that acute cases of malnutrition has climbed is quite extraordinary. So Israel is eager to look like it is doing something. At least it shows they are not completely immune to international pressure but it is certainly not an approach that will make a big difference on the ground.

Yes, there were. And it's not only that. There are multiple other reasons why air drops are not ideal.

Starting with: capacity! It's much cheaper and logistically easier to deliver by land than air drop.

But also (and this is where it gets interesting): you cannot precisely control where packages on parachutes land or who gets hold of them once they do.

And here I was thinking "but Hamas steals the aid" was the objection. No better mechanism of making sure that whoever has the biggest guns - whether militants or just ordinary criminals - around the landing spot gets the goods than air drops.

If you've ever been involved in aid distribution (which I have, albeit in nowhere near as dire circumstances) you'll know that crowd and access control and recipient registration are done for a reason. If a new shipment of shoes will cause people to crowd a distribution point what do you think food to the starving will do?

Incidentally, this is exactly what is happening around GHF distributions: organised criminal gangs rush in, rush the "throw boxes to the crowd" distribution, take the high value items, run, and sell them on the black market.

This stuff is genuinely not rocket science.