In reaction to the Israeli Knesset passing bills banning UNRWA from operating in areas under Israel’s control, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa said: 

“Israel has bombed Palestinians to death, maimed them, starved them, and is now ridding them of their biggest lifeline of aid. Piece by piece, Israel is systemically dismantling Gaza as a land that is autonomous and liveable for Palestinians. Its banning of UNRWA today is condemnable and another step in this crime.

“The decision will further undermine the ability of the international community to provide sufficient humanitarian aid and to save lives in any safe, independent and impartial way.

“UNRWA is not only the biggest and most established agency that has been delivering aid and sustenance to the people of Gaza for years, it is also a thread that connected them in some hope of solidarity and security to the United Nations.

“We are in no doubt that Israel and its allies are fully aware of the terrible consequences that this decision will have on Palestinians living in Gaza, many of whom are already starving. We join others in warning again that this will result in more death, more suffering, and more forced displacement of people from their besieged homeland. It is impossible not to believe that this is their aim.”

Orkney’s Gaza Vigil

Today, 2nd November, islanders in Orkney will again stand in support of the people of Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire, the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages. The Gaza Vigil takes place every Saturday outside St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, on the Kirk Green between 1 and 2pm and will continue to meet until there is an immediate ceasefire. They have now been meeting for over a year.

UNRWA

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Words Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The work it does in the Israeli illegally occupied Palestinian territories, in Syria and in Lebanon, is invaluable.

UNRWA is the main UN agency providing essential services and protection to Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.

UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, which works to protect the rights of every child, stated:

“UNRWA is the only United Nations General Assembly-mandated agency to provide for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA runs a range of social services, with over 18,000 employees in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, providing health, education and other essential services for Palestinian refugees. No UN agency can take over this responsibility.

“UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent, life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need. With the children of Gaza already facing one of the gravest humanitarian crises in recent history, if fully implemented, this decision will be deadly.”

What the world is witnessing is the obliteration of Gaza, a genocide, being perpetrated by Israel. The atrocities continue. The rounding up of civilians and medical professionals, illegally detained in camps within Israel, continue.

Doctors Without Borders/  Médecins Sans Frontières have reported on 31st October that Dr Obeid MSF orthopaedic surgeon has been detained by Israeli forces along with several medical staff from Kamal Adwan hospital during a military operation at the hospital.

MSF posted this image on the social media site X:

On 24th of October an Israeli airstrike hit a house in  Khan Younis where MSF worker Hasan Suboh was staying with his relatives.  The attack hit several houses and killed 38 people, including 14 children and four members of Hasan’s family. Hassan’s death at 41 leaves his 7 children without a father and his wife, widowed. MSF reported that Hasan’s tattered MSF vest, which he wore all the time, was found under the rubble. 

“This vest symbolizes Hasan’s commitment to helping people in distress, but more globally it also symbolises healthcare and humanitarian assistance.

“To see it destroyed is representative of how in this war, Israel, the US government and the rest of Israel’s allies, have disregarded the protection of healthcare workers and ripped the rules of war to shreds. 

“The claim that humanitarian workers are protected, that civilian lives are protected, has once again been exposed as a lie for all the world to see. 

The UK Government is Complicit in the War Crimes Being Committed by Israel

The UK continues to supply Israel with military equipment parts. On 2 September 2024, the UK Labour Government Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, announced the suspension of around only 30 licences, out of about 350, to Israel.

The primary sources of arms for Israel are the United States and Germany. The UK Government granted licences valued at £42 million in 2022 which, it said, was less than 1% of Israel’s defence imports. The value of exports dropped to £18 million in 2023. The government granted 108 licences for military and non-military controlled goods to Israel between 7 October 2023 and 31 May 2024, according to data released in June 2024. House of Commons Library.

Mr Lammy told the Commons that the UK’s action was not a “blanket ban or an arms embargo” because Israel must have the right to defend itself against Hezbollah (based in Lebanon), the Houthis (based in Yemen) and Hamas. Mr Lammy said that the UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence, in line with international law, and that the “point of the process” is “in no way to punish Israel, but to make sure that our export licensing regime remains among the most robust in the world”.

The UK Labour Government’s Budget announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday 30 October 2024 has cut the funding for international Aid. UK aid will drop from 0.58 percent in 2023 to 0.5 percent of gross national income (GNI) for the next two financial years. This comes on top of successive Tory years of reductions in international Aid.

Cuts to Aid but continuing with Arms Sales. The UK Labour Government continues with the polices of the previous Tory administration.

The islanders in Orkney welcome all who wish to join them at the vigil on Saturday. Last weekend some visitors from the USA who were on a cruise ship to were pleased to see the vigil taking place and took time to stand with the islanders. You can hear what they have to say in this latest film by Mike Robertson for The Orkney News. Orkney and Shetland LibDem MP Alistair Carmichael also attended the vigil.

All images by Mike Robertson

Fiona Grahame