Just thought I'd share these words. It seemed like an appropriate place. And you'd get an A+ for your efforts, Caitlin. Thank you.
Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation and the protection of aid workers in Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Before starting, I ask you to reflect – for a moment – on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.
It is a question we will hear, sometimes incredulous, sometimes furious – but always there – for the rest of our lives.
We will surely all claim to have been against it? Maybe we will say we issued a statement? Or that we trusted that private pressure might work, despite so much evidence to the contrary?
Or pretend that we thought a more brutal military offensive had more chance of bringing the hostages home than the negotiations which brought so many hostages home?
Maybe some will recall that in a transactional world we had other priorities.
Or maybe we will use those empty words: “We did all we could.”
Mr. President,
Let me start with what we see and are mandated by this Council to report.
Israel is deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
For more than 10 weeks, nothing has entered Gaza – no food, medicine, water or tents.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have, again, been forcibly displaced and confined into ever-shrinking spaces, as 70 per cent of Gaza’s territory is either within Israeli-militarized zones or under displacement orders.
As my colleague from the FAO will explain, every single one of the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of famine. One in five face starvation.
Despite the fact that you have funded the food that could save them.
Just thought I'd share these words. It seemed like an appropriate place. And you'd get an A+ for your efforts, Caitlin. Thank you.
Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation and the protection of aid workers in Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Before starting, I ask you to reflect – for a moment – on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.
It is a question we will hear, sometimes incredulous, sometimes furious – but always there – for the rest of our lives.
We will surely all claim to have been against it? Maybe we will say we issued a statement? Or that we trusted that private pressure might work, despite so much evidence to the contrary?
Or pretend that we thought a more brutal military offensive had more chance of bringing the hostages home than the negotiations which brought so many hostages home?
Maybe some will recall that in a transactional world we had other priorities.
Or maybe we will use those empty words: “We did all we could.”
Mr. President,
Let me start with what we see and are mandated by this Council to report.
Israel is deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
For more than 10 weeks, nothing has entered Gaza – no food, medicine, water or tents.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have, again, been forcibly displaced and confined into ever-shrinking spaces, as 70 per cent of Gaza’s territory is either within Israeli-militarized zones or under displacement orders.
As my colleague from the FAO will explain, every single one of the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of famine. One in five face starvation.
Despite the fact that you have funded the food that could save them.