To think UN should now be in Gaza as a peacekeeping force

[ArtfulGoldWriter]

Seriously, when even the Daily Express are even calling mass forced starvation and putting pictures like this on their front pages.

Surely the UN could act as a peacekeeping force and stop this insanity?

Its obscene.

It's not Israel starving 2 million people. It's aid not being distributed. The example being that the Gaza Humanitarian fund want to facilitate deliveries. The UN have put a block on that. They want to deal directly with Hamas. Corrupt UNWRA are the problem. However, as it's not Israel, you won't be interested in finding out more.

@ArtfulGoldWriter

The UN have been clear that they don't want to be part of concentrating the people of Gaza into small camps to facilitate the depopulation of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Why would the UN be complicit in what Israel have openly said is a plan for ethnic cleansing? That's why they won't be part of the GHFs activities.

In a statement signed and released on Wednesday by 109 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Doctors Without Borders (also known as MSF), the groups warned that deepening starvation of the population was spreading across the besieged enclave.

Tonnes of food, clean water, medical supplies and other items sit untouched just outside Gaza as humanitarian organisations are blocked from accessing or delivering them by Israel.

“As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes,” the organisations said.

“The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises … The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the statement added.

Who do you think people are going to believe 109 NGOs or you, random person on mumsnet? It's too late. People don't believe you anymore. The Israeli governments inhumane treatment of people is on the front page of papers now, people can see with their own eyes who are doing it and it's not the UN.

It's on the gazan side side of the border. It's hamas who are blocking distribution.

Please do not try and compare this to the holocaust. Absolutely disgusting and false equivalence.

I believe me. I don't need you to - I'm giving my opinion. I'm not in isolation with that opinion, either.

109 NGOs or you? Who do you think people are going to believe?

The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises … The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,”

Sure, I'm just making it clear that your opinion isn't fact. There are facts then there are dangermoos 'opinions' and never the two shall meet.

Your opinion is as subjective as mine. Just because something appears on the front pages, doesn't make it fact. It's called click bait. There is a Humanitarian crisis, of course. It's not as cut and dried as you believe.

There are videos showing hundreds of aid trucks lined up, ready to deliver food, but the UN has refused to distribute it - apparently preferring to let Gazans starve rather than coordinate with Israel instead of Hamas.

The UN played a direct role in enabling Gaza’s descent into a terrorist stronghold, putting civilians - especially children - in grave danger. Worse still, UN employees were found to have actively participated in the 7 October massacre that triggered this war.

The organisation has repeatedly pledged to uphold peace in the region and has repeatedly failed. In 1948, it promised international control over Jerusalem under Resolution 181 - never enforced. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, UNEF was meant to act as a buffer, but it was pulled out at Egypt’s request just days before the Six-Day War. Since 1978, UNIFIL has been stationed in southern Lebanon, yet it stood by as Hezbollah grew in strength and launched thousands of rockets into Israel. Same with Golan.

Again and again, UN forces have failed to protect civilians or respond to threats, leaving Israel isolated and vulnerable - its security concerns ignored or dismissed. Now, after standing by as Gaza was militarised with tunnels, weapons, and child soldiers, the UN not only refuses to deliver food but blames Israel for the starvation their own inaction is prolonging.

No, I bloody don't think they should be brought in. I think they have failed, utterly, to do their job, and need to be completely replaced in their role in the middle eastern peace process.

Yes you're rabbiting the latest Israeli government defence. Thankfully the world does not believe a word of it and is more focused on trying to get the situation resolved.

https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-blames-un-for-gaza-aid-failures/

The UN has also said repeatedly that it struggles to get the necessary Israeli authorisation to collect incoming supplies and transport them through military zones, with ongoing hostilities, badly damaged roads, looting, and severe fuel shortages exacerbating problems.

A major problem in recent weeks, the UN says, has been that it is struggling to get commitments from the Israeli military that Palestinians will not be killed while trying to collect aid from its convoys.

Israel has murdered over 1500 humanitarian workers .
Israel has murdered nearly 310 UN workers .
Israel murdered 7 WCK workers.
Israel has murdered nearly 1000 people seeking aid in the last few weeks.

But yeah it's nothing to do with Israel that the UN haven't delivered food.

You’re absolutely right- we did see emaciated adults and children alike in Ethiopia, and that’s because it was a prolonged famine over years, not a manmade siege lasting nine months with mothers going without food so their babies can eat.

The difference here is that adults often shield children from the worst for as long as possible. But eventually, when aid is blocked, formula is banned, and bread can’t be baked because Israel is targeting flour mills, bakeries and fuel- even the youngest begin to waste away. As I have explained, the youngest waste away FIRST.

As for your claim that these children are being “exploited”, is your issue with their suffering, or with it being seen?

Because what you’re doing is textbook dehumanisation: disbelieving the severity of starvation based on the face of the person holding the baby.

This isn’t about Hamas. This is about 1.1 million children now facing “catastrophic food insecurity,” according to the UN and countless medical NGOs. It’s about the fact that 20,000 children have already been killed, and many of the survivors are now severely malnourished, orphaned, or in need of amputations.

At some point, when every fact is met with “yes but Hamas,” it stops being concern and starts being wilful denial of a mass atrocity.

'As for your claim that these children are being “exploited”, is your issue with their suffering, or with it being seen?'

Because they clearly have genetic conditions and/or pre existing medical problems, their privacy should be protected rather then being used in some famine allegation.

I repeat I don't dispute the conditions in gaza will be challenging but the un needs to get its useless arse in gear and distribute aid rather than jumping on the Israel are committing genocide bandwagon. It is not in Israel's interests to wipe anyone out, it is however in hamas' interests to perpetuate the it's all Israel's fault stories whilst stuffing their faces.

'At some point, when every fact is met with “yes but Hamas,” it stops being concern and starts being wilful denial of a mass atrocity.'

At some point, when every fact is met with “yes but Israel,” it stops being concern and starts being wilful denial of a mass atrocity.

That’s simply not accurate. Your misinformation is dangerous.

Israel has imposed a near total siege since October- bombing bakeries, destroying water infrastructure, blocking aid convoys, and refusing entry to flour, formula, fuel, and aid workers. Aid isn’t “just sitting there” because the UN is being awkward. It’s sitting at the border because Israel
is deliberately blocking it

Israeli defence minister on Oct 9:
“No electricity, no food, no fuel — we are fighting human animals.”
→ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-defense-minister-orders-complete-siege-gaza-2023-10-09/

(Israeli human rights org) calls this a deliberate atarvation policy:
https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20231218_starvation_as_policy

Over 1 million people now face famine due to Israeli restrictions, per UN:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/un-experts-warn-israel-using-starvation-war-weapon-gaza

Formula and medical aid is being repeatedly blocked at the crossing points:
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/08/1259999396/israel-gaza-humanitarian-aid-kerem-shalom

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), run by a far-right settler, is not a neutral aid group.
https://www.972mag.com/gaza-aid-israel-ghf/

UN won’t work with groups like GHF for neutrality and safeguarding reasons — not because they “like Hamas.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/23/us-agency-finds-no-evidence-of-unrwa-staff-hamas-links

This is not about defending Hamas- it’s about holding Israel, who controls the air, land and sea borders, accountable for what top experts now call the deadliest humanitarian crisis since WWII.

https://www.politico.eu/article/gaza-humanitarian-crisis-worst-world-war-2-un/

"their privacy should be protected"

Fuck that, if it was my child slowly starving to death I would want her face on the front of every newspaper so all those complicit in it can see what they have done.
Id hope her face would haunt them.

You’re repeating my exact sentence without addressing the core issue: one side is being collectively starved, displaced, and killed at industrial scale, and the other holds overwhelming military power and control over that suffering.

It’s not “yes but Israel” - it’s look at what Israel is doing. 50,000(?) dead. 20,000 of them children. Aid blocked. Flour and baby formula withheld. Journalists, medics, UN staff killed in record numbers. That’s not a rebuttal. That’s reality.

Pointing that out isn’t denial of atrocity- it is naming the atrocity. They are committing war crimes.

Can we stop pretending starving children in Gaza are a PR stunt?

I keep seeing the same tired, callous argument (from the same 2/3 posters): “That baby’s starving but the parent looks fine - it must be fake.”

Come on.

In every famine or siege, adults - especially mothers - go without food so their children can eat. But after 9 months of siege, no flour, no fuel, and no baby formula allowed in, even that isn’t enough. Children are now visibly wasting away. Children are the first to go. That’s not exploitation - it’s starvation.

And no, this isn’t just “Hamas stealing aid.” The UN, WHO, UNICEF, and every major humanitarian organisation agree:

• No food or fuel has entered Gaza since March 2
• Flour mills and bakeries were bombed
• Fuel needed to bake bread is blocked
• Aid convoys are repeatedly targeted

That’s not “challenging conditions.” That’s a deliberate man-made famine.

And as for “those kids must have genetic conditions”? Even if true in some cases, that doesn’t cancel out the 90% of children now suffering acute hunger, or the dozens who’ve died from malnutrition in hospitals with no electricity, water, or medical supplies.

The IDF and Human Rights Watch have documented:

• Aid seekers being shot at
• Civilians forced to strip at checkpoints
• Children dying of dehydration in 40°C heat

This is now the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, according to multiple UN experts.

If your takeaway is “some kids look weird, so it’s fake” or “UNRWA are corrupt, so ignore the dead babies,” then sorry, that’s not skepticism - it’s dehumanisation.

Say you don’t care. But stop pretending it’s not happening.

You do realise that if you deny food to a 10kg child they are going to look like they are starving long before 70kg adults are? Because thet will in fact starve first?

Do you think that the UN, aid agencies, doctors on the ground are all in a big conspiracy to lie about a famine? For what purpose?

The ones being exploited clearly have genetic issues and medical problems.

Hamas should indeed work with the un to distribute aid though.

“Their privacy should be protected”

The child’s right to food, water and safety should be protected! Unfortunately that’s had to be prioritised over privacy.

If your real concern is the child’s privacy rather than their starvation, you’ve completely lost the plot.

These children aren’t being “exploited”, they’re literally dying. Their images are being shared because it’s the only way the world pays attention. If their bodies were hidden, you’d be saying “where’s the evidence?”

You cannot simultaneously accuse families of faking starvation and insist their suffering shouldn’t be shown.

Can you show some proof for them all having genetic or medical conditions?

It’s repeatedly been explained to you why that is not the case. You’re choosing to ignore facts now and spread misinformation.

'You’re repeating my exact sentence without addressing the core issue: one side is being collectively starved, displaced, and killed at industrial scale, and the other holds overwhelming military power and control over that suffering.'

I agree, hamas holds power and control over their suffering. It suits them to do this to then blame Israel who has provided aid that is festering on the gazan border.

Again, you’ve been given the facts of the situation- with sources. You’re choosing to ignore those and spread misinformation. Israel is withholding aid from Palestinians. This is the man-made famine/collective punishment of 2 million people, caused by Israel.

Their concern is not for the child, its for the fact that the pictures of these poor children show exactly what the Israeli government has been doing and the reaction from the public is mostly anger.

Unfortunately for an entity used to being able to get away with "mowing the grass" quietly due to the slow pace of old media, social media has enabled these atrocities to be viewed near enough "live" and the Israeli government is no longer able to control the narrative.