Palestine

Today, Members of the European Parliament called for a humanitarian pause in the resolution they adopted on the events in Gaza. In response, Vittorio Infante, Oxfam EU conflict expert said: "This is a timid gesture. While any window to bring in aid to Gaza safely should be seized at this catastrophic stage, this is not the real answer.

Gaza is facing an unprecedented health crisis that risks an outbreak of deadly infectious diseases, like cholera, because water and sanitation services have completely broken down, says Oxfam. 

Oxfam is warning that a total siege on Gaza will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. Yesterday’s announcement from the Israeli government, in response to the appalling attacks by Hamas, will stop all food, water, electricity and fuel from reaching an already vulnerable population. The siege adds to the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has endured for 16 years. 

In response to the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip with Israeli airstrikes killing 21 Palestinians, closing key crossings and barring critical supplies from entering Shane Stevenson, Oxfam OPTI Country Director said: “Civilians in Gaza are once again paying the price for the failures of political leaders to negotiate a just solution and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis."

Oxfam said today that it cannot reach around 450,000 or more people in Gaza because of fighting and aerial bombardment. Oxfam staff are trying to resume their humanitarian and livelihood programmes with its network of partners but the destruction and indiscriminate threat to life make any emergency aid, at the moment, impossible to mount. The international agency should be providing food, clean water, sanitation and child protection support but the bombing is making it too dangerous for anyone to leave their homes. 

Civilians are once again paying the price for the failures of political leaders to negotiate a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Oxfam calls for an immediate end to all violence.

Oxfam is deeply concerned at the tension and violence witnessed over the past few days in Jerusalem and the potential for further escalation. Palestinian families who have lived in Jerusalem for generations are being threatened with evictions and systemic discrimination benefiting the agenda of violent settler organizations, fanning the flames of current confrontations.

In reaction to Israel’s announcement to sending surplus vaccines to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Honduras, and Guatemala, Oxfam in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Acting Country Director Dina Jibril said: Israel’s deal to exchange surplus vaccines for UN votes and embassies, while the vast majority of almost 5 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza are left to wait for the potentially life-saving vaccine is shameful and shortsighted. 

Hospitals and Palestinians in Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on the planet, are bracing for the Coronavirus pandemic with only three to four hours of electricity per day, as fuel entry restriction by Israel, has forced Gaza’s single electricity plant to shut down and compounded the risk of infection for two million Palestinians, Oxfam warned today. 

The Trump administration’s plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict disregards international law and diminishes prospects for a just and lasting peace, said the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam today.