David Cameron, the foreign secretary, misses the point that has been made by almost every UN or humanitarian agency trying to operate in Gaza: we cannot deliver aid effectively while bombs are dropping and fighting continues (Israel must act now to let aid through and save lives in Gaza. Britain has a plan to help that happen, 11 January).
Lord Cameron is right to say we need more trucks entering Gaza and to flag the inconsistency of what items are allowed by Israeli authorities. We have been told only pitted olives can enter, not those with stones. Medical equipment, tent poles and water purification tablets – among a huge number of other essential items – have also been rejected without explanation. This inhumane and irrational screening is deadly; thousands of trucks are blocked at the border waiting to deliver life-saving aid.
The government of Israel could immediately fix this. Israel could easily drive truckloads of supplies into Gaza and instantly turn the water and electricity back on. Israel is obliged to do so under international humanitarian law. The UK voted for a UN resolution in December to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza – they must hold Israel to account to ensure that this is provided.
But piecemeal aid efforts without a ceasefire are, as my Palestinian colleague Bushra said, just “bombing us on full stomachs”. What the people of Gaza need is an immediate and permanent ceasefire – not more platitudes about access to aid while bombs rain down over them. Until the UK government calls for an immediate ceasefire, it is complicit in the horrors we are seeing every day in Gaza.
Aleema Shivji
Interim CEO, Oxfam GB
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