Source: Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA)
PSNA is urging Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to stand up to Israel and demand it allow the tens of millions in New Zealand aid to get through to the starving people of Gaza.
Despite the ceasefire the head of the World Health Organisation said today the hunger crisis in Gaza is “catastrophic”.
Meanwhile 41 aid organisations have said Israel is “arbitrarily” rejecting aid shipments into famine-struck Gaza where the UN says a quarter of Gaza’s population is starving.
“Our aid is being blocked by Israel” says PSNA Co-Chair John Minto. “New Zealand has paid over $40 million on aid for Gaza but Israel is refusing to let it through to the starving population.”
“The government’s commitment of food and medical supplies is just window-dressing if we don’t insist it gets through.”
“Israel’s cruelty and depravity is plain to see but not a peep from our government. What’s so hard about standing up for basic human decency?”
Meanwhile the International Court of Justice this week reiterated its call for Israel to abide by international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
In its advisory opinion the court said as the occupying power Israel is required to ‘ensure that the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory [OPT] has the essential supplies of daily life, including food, water, clothing, bedding, shelter, fuel, medical supplies and services’ and ‘to respect the prohibition on the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare’.
Israel has refused to do either.
“Mass killing and mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza hasn’t moved the government.” says Minto
“All we have are limp platitudes such as Foreign Minister Peters made 11 days ago urging ‘the immediate influx of food, fuel and basic supplies into Gaza’.“
“Cowardice in the face of Israel’s brutality is endemic within the Foreign Minister’s office.”
“A New Zealand parliamentary delegation needs to travel to Gaza without delay to directly monitor what’s happening and confront Israel’s depraved behaviour.”
Luxon should speak out now and ask the Foreign Affairs Select Committee to immediately organise a delegation to Gaza.
John Minto
Co-Chair PSNA
