A group of about 40 to 50 people in Orkney again gathered on the steps of St Magnus Cathedral on Saturday 20th of January calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Members of Unison, the largest trade union for Orkney’s local government workers, joined the vigil.

There have been international calls for a ceasefire with the violence spreading across the region and the UK becoming ever deeper embroiled in its military support of the USA.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that there have been nearly 20,000 births since the start of widespread Israeli bombardment in response to Hamas-led attacks in Israel that left some 1,200 dead and approximately 250 taken hostage.

Chronic aid access problems have meant that Caesarean sections have been performed without anaesthetic while other women have been unable to deliver their stillborn babies because medical staff are overwhelmed, the UN agency said.

“Mothers face unimaginable challenges in accessing adequate medical care, nutrition and protection before, during and after giving birth,” said UNICEF Communications Specialist Tess Ingram.

“Becoming a mother should be a time for celebration. In Gaza, it’s another child delivered into hell.”

 152 United Nations staff have been killed.

 In an address to the latest summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which concluded in Kampala, Uganda, on Saturday, 20th January, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:

“Following the abhorrent Hamas attacks on 7 October, the wholesale destruction of Gaza and the number of civilian casualties in such a short period are totally unprecedented during my mandate.

“This must stop. I will not relent in my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

“And we must do all we can to prevent spillover of this conflict across the region — in the West Bank, across the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, and in Syria, Iraq and the Red Sea.”

He added that refusal to accept the two-State solution for Israelis and Palestinians, and the denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people, are unacceptable.

“This would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security; exacerbate polarization; and embolden extremists everywhere.”

UN World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that hepatitis A infections have been confirmed in Gaza. The latest WHO data indicates that on average 500 people are sharing one toilet, and over 2,000 people have to use a single shower, increasing the risk of disease spread.

In addition to a sharp rise in upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea cases among children under age five recorded during the last three months of 2023 were 26 times higher than reports from the same period in 2022, the UN health agency noted.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, expressed deep concern at reports that nearly 25,000 people have been reported killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. A full 70 per cent are believed to be women and children, and at least another 61,500 have been injured while “several thousands more are under the rubble, many presumed dead”.

In its latest update on the crisis, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, repeated deep concerns that safe and effective relief missions “anywhere in Gaza” remained “heavily compromised by Israeli restrictions on the import of critical equipment, including appropriate communication devices”.

The head of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ajith Sunghay, said that displaced people continue to arrive in Rafah “in the thousands”. He said:

“It is a pressure cooker environment here, in the midst of utter chaos, given the terrible humanitarian situation, shortages and pervasive fear and anger, heavy bombardment of Middle Gaza and Khan Younis” was “clearly visible and audible from Rafah, especially at night”.

Mr. Sunghay said that he could “hear bombing, sometimes several times an hour”. Night-time was “the most terrifying time” during strikes for Gazans and the more than 100 civilians still held hostage in the enclave, who are “unseen (and) who most certainly hear the same sounds and feel the same fear”.

Fiona Grahame