After visiting Egypt and the Rafah border, former Irish president Mary Robinson has called on states to implement “decisive measures” to halt the “unfolding genocide and famine in Gaza”.
A statement from Ms Robinson and former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, as members of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders, urged the immediate suspension of transfers of arms and weapons components to Israel and the imposition of targeted sanctions on Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet.
They also called for the suspension of trade arrangements with Israel, including the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
“The uncomfortable truth is that many states are prioritising their own economic and security interests, even as the world is reeling from the images of Gazan children starving to death,” they said after a three-day visit to Egypt.
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Speaking to reporters about undelivered aid, Ms Robinson said: “It is utterly devastating to see the sheer volume of vital materials, oxygen tanks, generators, wheelchairs, crutches; it’s unbelievable.”
On Tuesday, foreign ministers of 24 countries, including Ireland, issued a joint appeal for the free passage of aid.
“The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” it said.
Due to restrictive new registration requirements, it warned, essential international NGOs may be forced to leave the OPTs (occupied Palestinian territories) “imminently”, a development that would worsen the humanitarian situation.
“Immediate, permanent and concrete steps must be taken to facilitate safe, large-scale access for the UN, international NGOs and humanitarian partners,” it said.
“All crossings and routes must be used to allow a flood of aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water, medicine and medical equipment. Lethal force must not be used at distribution sites, and civilians, humanitarians and medical workers must be protected.”
It was cosigned by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; vice-president of the European Commission; EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean; and the Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.
Meanwhile, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights has said European states should ensure their arms transfers do not contribute to human rights violations in Gaza.
Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty, a law professor and native of Galway, also called on the council’s 46 member states to intensify support for efforts to ensure unhindered access for humanitarian assistance and for immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Mr O’Flaherty said, while his mandate does not cover the situation in Gaza, he has engaged with member states regarding their obligations in the context of the international arms trade “to help ensure that their actions do not contribute to human rights violations”.
He noted steps by some member states to suspend or restrict arms transfers to Israel, including Germany last week, but stressed: “More needs to be done, and quickly.”
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In their statement, Ms Robinson and Ms Clark expressed “shock and outrage at Israel’s deliberate obstruction of the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza, causing mass starvation to spread”.
“The targeted killing of journalist Anas al-Sharif and four of his colleagues in Gaza is an attempt to silence the truth,” they said.
“What we saw and heard underlines our personal conviction that there is not only an unfolding, human-caused famine in Gaza. There is an unfolding genocide.”
They said they saw evidence of food and medical aid denied entry and heard witness accounts of the killing of Palestinian civilians, including children, trying to access aid inside Gaza.
No shelter materials have entered Gaza since last March, they said, adding that they saw “huge numbers” of tents ready for delivery but blocked by the Israeli authorities.
“Israel must open all border crossings into Gaza, including at Rafah, immediately.”
The 1948 Genocide Convention, created in the aftermath of the Holocaust, “is being flouted in word and deed by Israel in Gaza, and by powerful UN member states who are not holding Israel’s leadership to account.”
A former UN high commissioner for human rights, Ms Robinson said governments that are not using all the tools at their disposal to halt the unfolding genocide “are increasingly complicit”.
“Political leaders have the power and the legal obligation to apply measures to pressure this Israeli government to end its atrocity crimes,” she said. “This is all the more urgent in light of prime minister Netanyahu’s Gaza City takeover plan. President Trump has the leverage to compel a change of course. He must use it now.”
The statement urged Israel and Hamas to re-engage in ceasefire talks and agree a deal, said Hamas must immediately release all the remaining Israeli hostages, and arbitrarily detained Palestinian prisoners must be released by Israel.
