Today, Saturday 27th July, Orkney islanders will again gather on the Kirk Green, Broad Street Kirkwall between 1 and 2pm, as they have been doing since October, in support of the people of Gaza. It is quite unprecedented for there to be such a long and sustained public protest in Orkney. The vigil is calling for an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
And it’s not just in Kirkwall. On 13th of July islanders in Sanday gathered on one of the island’s beautiful beaches to fly kites to show solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The Olympic Games officially opened in Paris on Friday night – some team events have already taken place.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for global respect of the Olympic Truce – a custom of halting all hostilities from before to after the Games. This would not just be in the genocide in Gaza but in conflicts all across the world.
Hundreds of Gaza’s athletes have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7th. Football is a very popular sport in Palestine and Hani Al-Masdar the general manager of the Palestine national Olympic team was killed .
There seems to be no end to the violence being meted out to the civilian population by the Israeli forces. Truce and hostage swap talks in Doha scheduled on Thursday in Qatar were postponed until early next week.
It is estimated that 116 hostages are still missing, with 44 believed to have died, nearly 10 months since the Hamas-led terror attacks on multiple targets in southern Israel left around 1,250 dead and more than 250 taken captive.
The collective punishment of the civilian population by Israel is against international law and many war crimes are being committed by a force armed with the most sophisticated weaponry supplied by the USA, Germany and the UK – which is itself an international crime.
On July 19th 2024 the World Court – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) – declared in an advisory opinion that Israel is an Apartheid State. Perhaps readers might only have thought that term applied to the political structure that used to be in force in South Africa when people were segregated according to race. It ensured that white South Africans who were in the minority had full rights as citizens and everyone else was listed into different categories with fewer and fewer rights. This appalling and abhorent system of inequality and segregation was condemned by many in the international community and sanctions badly damaged the economy of South Africa. And now we have an official statement by the world court that the political system imposed in Israel where there are different categories of citizens with many have very few or no rights at all, is also Apartheid. In Orkney we heard first hand about the system in Apartheid Israel in May :
You can also watch a video of that meeting on the Orkney News YouTube Channel
Tirana Hassan, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:
“In a historic ruling the International Court of Justice has found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid.
“The court has placed responsibility with all states and the United Nations to end these violations of international law. The ruling should be yet another wake up call for the United States to end its egregious policy of defending Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and prompt a thorough reassessment in other countries as well.”
As starvation, disease (including polio) stalks Gaza a dozen distribution points for food and eight for cooked meals were forced to halt their operations – and nutrition programmes at two shelters supporting more than 2,800 children and pregnant women were also disrupted. The relief organisation OCHA reported that in Khan Younis educational activities had to be suspended, affecting over 20,000 children who had been benefiting from mental health and recreational activities, and about 1,500 children in 10 temporary learning spaces.
None of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is fully functioning. Sixteen are partially functioning, but some are only providing minimal health-care services.
Only this week more than 190,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to move in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah since Monday’s evacuation order by Israeli forces . Hundreds of others remain stranded in eastern Khan Younis, as the fighting continues. There is nowhere safe to go – everywhere is a target.
There has been a surge in acute respiratory infections (currently exceeding 990,000 cases), diarrheal illnesses (577,000 cases), acute jaundice syndrome (107,000 cases) and skin infections.
Israeli Forces and the Weapon of Starvation
Since mid-January, 169,101 children aged 6-59 months and 10,355 pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) have been screened for malnutrition. Of all screened children, 11,541 have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition and have been receiving treatment in line with the simplified protocols; these include 8,993 children diagnosed with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), and 2,548 with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). Additionally, 271 PBW have been enrolled in treatment.
The treatment of innocent starving civilians is hampered by being constantly forced to move as Israeli attacks using advanced weaponry of drones and missiles rain down. OCHA
According to the latest data which is considered to be an underestimate 38,295+ Palestinians have been killed since 7th October 23 with over 88,241 injured. Since October 7th 1,200 Israeli citizens (including some foreign nationals) have been killed with over 5,432 injured. Over 1.9million Palestinians have been forced to flee in a frantic search for safety – often multiple times.
On 26 July, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated in response to a question in a press briefing that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is a total disaster,” providing two main reasons for this. First, a military campaign with a “certain chaotic nature” has resulted in the highest level of killing and destruction since he came into office in 2017, where people are repeatedly told to move from one place to another “in search of a safety that doesn’t exist in any place.” Second, the level of humanitarian aid is “totally out of proportion with the needs.”
The Secretary-General further stated that there is “total insecurity and total lawlessness” and mentioned a set of obstacles “in relation to [the entry of] security equipment [and] the so-called ‘dual use’ items,” among other requirements for an effective humanitarian operation.
- The following are among the deadliest incidents reported between 20 and 24 July:
- On 20 July, at about 22:15, 10 Palestinian family members, including at least five females, were reportedly killed and others injured when barracks sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs) were hit in Rumaydah area in Bani Suhaila, in eastern Khan Younis.
- On 20 July, at about 23:00, five Palestinians, including two girls, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in An Nuseirat new camp, in Deir al Balah.
- On 20 July, at about 23:15, seven Palestinians, including an unidentified number of women and children, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit near As Safa Mosque in Al Bureij Refugee Camp, in Deir al Balah.
- On 22 July, at about 7:35, six Palestinian family members were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in Al Fajem area of Bani Suheila, in eastern Khan Younis.
- On 23 July, at about 13:35, nine Palestinians, including four children, were reportedly killed and seven others injured when a house was hit near the main entrance of Al Bureij Refugee Camp, in Deir al Balah.
- On 24 July, at about 21:10, six Palestinians, including an unidentified number of children, were reportedly killed and others injured when a group of Palestinians was hit in Beit Lahiya Project, in North Gaza.
28 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation and 2,161 soldiers injured.
The islanders in Orkney who stand at their ceasefire vigil every Saturday are determined to continue until there is a permanent ceasefire and they welcome all those to join them who share this hope to do so any time between 1 and 2pm on the Kirk Green outside St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.
Here is a selection of images from the Kites for Gaza event in Sanday and a link to the most recent films made by Mike Robertson for the Orkney News.
Fiona Grahame
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