The killing of 40,000 people in Gaza should be a ‘source of eternal global shame’, Islamic Relief Worldwide says. In a damning statement, the charity says:
“These 40,000 people are not just numbers. They include babies, children, mothers, fathers, farmers, shopkeepers, students, teachers, journalists, doctors, aid workers, artists, entrepreneurs, grandparents and much more.
Gaza’s entire society is being killed as the world watches.
There can be no justification for this massacre, which is taking place in full sight of world leaders who have repeatedly failed or refused to act.
These deaths are the inevitable consequence of allowing international law to be violated with impunity.
As the death toll rises above 40,000, Palestinians in Gaza do not need more hollow words from international governments – they need meaningful action.
Governments must do everything in their power to pressure Israel to stop the killing, including halting arms sales, suspending trade agreements and supporting accountability.
To say there is nowhere safe in Gaza has become a startling understatement. Civilians have become moving targets. Israel has bombed civilians in homes, schools, mosques, churches, markets, hospitals and refugee camps.
The Israeli military has ordered families to leave their homes and go to shelters, then bombed them in those shelters.
Hundreds have been killed in just the past few days, including dozens of people torn to pieces when Israel bombed a school where hundreds of families had sought refuge.
At the same time Israel continues to block sufficient humanitarian aid from reaching people, using starvation as a weapon of war and pushing communities into famine.
40,000 people killed in just over 10 months is almost impossible to comprehend.
But in reality the death toll is likely to be even higher, with thousands of bodies still unaccounted for and many presumed to be still under the rubble.
Many academics expect tens of thousands more people will die from hunger, disease and denial of access to medical care. As needs have increased, the amount of aid allowed in by Israel has gone down.
Another 92,000 people have been wounded, many of them with permanent life-changing injuries such as loss of limbs. An incredible 1 in every 17 Palestinians in Gaza have now been killed or wounded. There is not a single person or family untouched by this horror.
It is too late for tens of thousands of people, but this killing must stop, and it must stop now.”
