Politics

It would be ‘beyond immoral’ for world to take sides amid starvation in Gaza, says Michael D Higgins

President warns against ‘rhetorical battle’ regarding supply of aid as concerns grow over famine

President Michael D Higgins says it is in the interest of the international community that the full facts are established. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Mark Hilliard
Tue Mar 19 2024 - 19:00

An international fact-finding group being granted access to locations where aid for citizens in Gaza is kept would be “of immense value”, President Michael D Higgins has said, amid growing concerns about famine in the war zone.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Higgins warned against a “rhetorical battle” regarding the supply of aid and a need to focus on its delivery.

It comes as the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, criticised the unfolding starvation and urged more international pressure on the issue of humanitarian aid.

Mr Higgins said that with a significant proportion of the population now facing extreme famine, it was important the circumstances of those suffering were not reduced to “any rhetorical battle” as to whether aid made available was being blocked or delayed.

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“It would be beyond immoral if the world sought to satisfy itself by the simple taking of sides in what are assertions and counter-assertions,” the President said.

“It is in the interests of the most basic humanity and in the interest of all in the international community that the full facts are established, responded to, and that all of the aid is made urgently available.”

Mr Higgins said that to achieve basic fact-finding, “it would surely be of immense value for an international group to be allowed access to all of the points at which aid is located and to report their findings to all sides, including all of those anxious to be involved in feeding the people of Gaza, including through the UN, and that appropriate actions follow”.

This approach, he said, would be in keeping with the findings of the International Court of Justice and its instruction that civilians be protected.

“The establishment of what are the facts as to the availability of the necessities of life itself should be not only welcomed by all, but insisted upon by all of the international community, its actors and agencies. Failure to do so should not be rewarded with the immunity of silence.”

[ Israel accused of ‘provoking famine’ as UN report warns 1.1m at risk of ‘catastrophic hunger’ in Gaza ]

On Monday a report from a global authority on food security and nutrition said the situation was now so severe that “famine is imminent” and the enclave is on the verge of a “major acceleration of deaths and malnutrition”.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global initiative, set up in 2004 by UN agencies and international relief groups, has sounded the alarm about famine only twice before, in Somalia in 2011 and in South Sudan in 2017.

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard is a reporter with The Irish Times

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