UK pro-Palestine coalition condemns forced displacement and genocide in Gaza

A coalition of pro-Palestine civil society groups in the UK has condemned the ongoing forced displacement of civilians in northern Gaza by the Israel occupation forces.

“This brutal action has inflicted immense suffering on hundreds of thousands of innocent people, who are now trapped in desperate conditions, deprived of essential services such as healthcare, clean water and food,” said the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in a joint statement yesterday.

The recent orders for mass evacuation, they pointed out, amount to ethnic cleansing, further deepening the humanitarian crisis and putting countless vulnerable individuals — including children, pregnant women and the elderly — in imminent peril.

“We demand as a matter of urgency an end to these displacements and humanitarian aid to be enabled to reach those in desperate need without obstruction,” insisted the groups. “It is imperative that all parties comply with international humanitarian law, which mandates the protection of civilians and the facilitation of unhindered humanitarian access.”

As far back as January, they pointed out, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to ensure the delivery of basic services and essential humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in order to prevent genocide. “As a signatory of the Genocide Convention, the British government has a legal and moral obligation to ensure that the orders of the ICJ are implemented.”

This latest attempt to clear northern Gaza of its population comes over a year into Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian people there. At least 42,000 Palestinians have been killed, over two million people have already been displaced – many of them multiple times – and civilian infrastructure, including schools, mosques, churches, hospitals and universities, has been destroyed. “The repeated failure of Britain and other western governments to apply meaningful pressure including sanctions to secure a ceasefire has allowed Israel to escalate its criminal actions,” said the coalition.

“The situation in Gaza is intolerable and requires immediate, decisive action to prevent further loss of life and alleviate the suffering of its people. The British government must listen to the hundreds of thousands who have repeatedly taken to the streets to call for an end to Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian people. It must condemn these latest acts by Israel, immediately halt the sale of weapons being used in this ethnic cleansing, and sanction those responsible.”

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