Israel has put a ‘straitjacket on aid’ as Gazans starve. Jens Laerke OCHA spokesperson commented that efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza ‘is  one of the most obstructed aid operations, not only in the world today, but in recent history.’

Of 900 Aid trucks which were ready, fewer than 600 got through and of those only a small number have been able to distribute the food and other essential supplies necessary to feed the starving population.

“It is drip-feeding food into an area on the verge of catastrophic hunger,” he said, as Israel obstructed and deliberately engineered the trickle of aid getting through.

 The UN and partners have “tens of thousands of pallets of food and other life-saving assistance” ready to enter Gaza to relieve the suffering, he continued.

“The aid has been paid for by the world’s donors, who expect us on their behalf to deliver it. It is cleared for customs, it is approved and it’s ready to move,” he said.

A new US and Israeli-backed aid distribution scheme run by a private entity called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operating independently of the UN this week.

On Tuesday at least 47 Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces as desperate people tried to collect aid from one of the privately owned US/Israeli centres. It has been described as using ‘engineered scarcity’ to further dehumanise people forced to walk to its distribution points.

Israel has continued to bomb and attack places where people have sought shelter. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said:

“This latest barrage of bombs, forcing people to move amid the threat of intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods, and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.”

The destruction of Gaza’s essential infrastructure, including hospitals, bakeries, and water systems, alongside the destruction of over 90% of housing and the mass displacement and forced encampment of civilians, represents not only a humanitarian crisis but a profound erosion of the human dignity of the Palestinian people. The International Court of Justice’s provisional measures in the case of South Africa v. Israel under the Genocide Convention remain unheeded, compounding the breaches of international law by Israel, the occupying Power. –600 Days of Israeli War on Gaza: UN Committee Urges Immediate, Unhindered Humanitarian Access

Activists in Orkney urge all those who wish to see the unhindered delivery of aid, and an immediate ceasefire, to join them on the Kirk Green. Broad Street, Kirkwall today, Saturday 31 May between 1 and 2pm. The Orkney Vigils have been held every Saturday since October 2023, with a pause during the brief ceasefire.

The UK Government is complicit in these crimes against humanity as it continues to sell military equipment which is used by Israel and to share information from its spy planes to the apartheid state.

This week the UK Labour Government sent a trade envoy, Lord Ian Austin, to Israel where he met with businesses and officials to encourage increased trade whilst it commits atrocities in Gaza and expands its illegal occupation of The West Bank.

Fiona Grahame