USA: Veto of UN resolution on lifting Gaza aid restrictions and release of hostages is shameful and inhumane amid Israel’s ongoing genocide

Responding to the US government’s decision to veto a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the occupied Gaza Strip, the release of hostages, and the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid”, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:  

“This latest shameful US veto – one in a long list – gives Israel the green light to continue its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. It allows Israel to continue starving Palestinian civilians and creating conditions of life meant to bring about their destruction. 

“The US has squandered yet another crucial opportunity to demand that Israel ends civilian bloodshed. What possible justification can there be for blocking action by the UN Security Council that could help to end the harrowing starvation and suffering, free hostages and lift Israel’s suffocating aid restrictions? 

“The lives of more than 2 million Palestinians are at stake: babies and children hospitalized for malnutrition-related symptoms; tens of thousands of children sleeping on empty stomachs; families unable to access flour for weeks; mothers too malnourished to breastfeed their infants; injured civilians deprived of life-saving medical supplies; and starved and emaciated fathers walking for hours under inhumane conditions to collect a parcel of food, not knowing if they’d even return home to their children.  

The US can and must do its part to put an end to this manmade catastrophe, which it has contributed to.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

“As the occupying power, Israel has a clear obligation under international law to ensure the population in the territory it controls has adequate access to food, medicine and other supplies essential to their survival. It has repeatedly refused to do so. All states, including the United States, have an obligation to prevent genocide, cooperate to bring it to an end and punish perpetrators.

“Israel’s newly established militarized humanitarian aid scheme, run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is not the answer as it is at odds with humanitarian principles and international law. The danger, ineffectiveness and utter depravity of this scheme became painfully clear as dozens of Palestinians, many of whom are sole providers for their families, were killed or injured while trying to access food. Nothing short of lifting all restrictions on entry of humanitarian aid will do. 

“The US can and must do its part to put an end to this manmade catastrophe, which it has contributed to. It must immediately halt arms transfers and military assistance, press Israel to lift all aid restrictions and push for an immediate ceasefire by all parties. The survival of 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza depends on it.”