Caribbean-American Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke has called for an end to the famine in Gaza, saying that the humanitarian crisis stands at “an unbearable breaking point.”
“Over nearly two long years of war, its people have faced the full weight of a brutal retaliation against Hamas’ crime on October 7, 2023. Tens of thousands of children, women, and men have lost their lives to this horrific conflict, and I am severely pained and distressed to see this already dire situation deteriorate even further,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
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“Let me be clear: the continuation of famine in Gaza is a moral catastrophe that America cannot and must not abide by,” added the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Israel must take every possible action to ensure food, water, and medicine flow into the Strip at once, and I urge the Trump Administration to use its immense influence to see that Israel does so.
“There can be no alternative. An overwhelming amount of aid must reach the people of Gaza, and it must reach them now. With every passing hour bringing us closer to the unthinkable, any further delay is totally unacceptable,” she argued.
The congresswoman said while the horrors committed against the victims and hostages of October 7 are neither forgivable nor justifiable, “their families, their communities, and their country will find no justice in the ruins of Gaza.
“This thirst for violence and vengeance must not continue,” she said.
Clarke said Israel has relentlessly proven its power since that tragic day two years ago, and its control over Gaza has remained absolute ever since.
“ So, I am frankly not interested in excuses as to why starved children cannot have the food or medicine required to save their lives. I am not interested in accusations of fault behind why aid has not already been delivered.
“Two terrible years of war have made the well-being of the Palestinian people Israel’s responsibility, and only Israel can pull them back from this devastation. All the world can see that any efforts to do so thus far are wholly and unequivocally insufficient.
“For the sake of human decency and securing any chance at a stable and lasting peace in the region, freeing the hostages and feeding Gaza must be parallel priorities for the Israeli government,” Clarke added.
She said without an immediate change, the two-state solution that she and millions of others have long advocated for will be permanently put out of reach by this ceaseless cycle of destruction, adding ending it begins with ending the pain in Gaza.
The United Nations said on Friday that despite Israel’s July 27 announcement of daily military pauses in western Gaza “to improve humanitarian responses,” Israeli forces continued attacks along food convoy routes and near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites, according to the UN human rights office in Palestine (OHCHR).
OHCHR said that, between July 30 and 31 alone, 105 Palestinians were killed and at least 680 more injured along the convoy routes in the Zikim area in North Gaza, southern Khan Younis, and in the vicinity of the GHF sites in Middle Gaza and Rafah.
In total, since May 27, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food – 859 in the vicinity of the GHF sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys, OHCHR said.
It noted that most of the killings were committed by the Israeli military, and that while it is aware of the presence of other armed elements in the same areas, it does not have information indicating their involvement in the killings.
“[The office] has no information that these Palestinians were directly participating in hostilities or posed any threat to Israeli security forces or other individuals. Each person killed or injured had been desperately struggling for survival, not only for themselves, but also for their families and dependents,” OHCHR said.
Meanwhile, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) underscored the need to open road crossings to supply aid at scale across the Gaza Strip.
“Aid reached the entire population of Gaza in safety and dignity. It succeeded in reversing the deepening starvation without any aid diversion,” the UNRWA head said, adding, “let us go back to what works and let us do our job. CMC
