‘Children have a right to be protected from violence’: UNICEF
The UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged for “immediate de-escalation” in the Middle East for the sake of the region’s children.
In a statement, the agency said every attack during the Gaza war has brought “news of children among those killed”. “In less than a year, thousands of children have been killed across the State of Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and the occupied Golan Heights,” it said.
“Beyond those tragic deaths, there are many more boys and girls suffering from injuries that have forever marked their bodies and caused immeasurable damage to their mental health.”
UNICEF warned that if violence escalates further, “the situation for children threatens to get far, far worse”.
“Immediate de-escalation is essential to safeguard the lives and well-being of children, as the alternative is unconscionable,” it said. “Children have a right to be protected from violence and this should always be upheld.”
Without ceasefire for vaccines, polio could spread throughout region: WHO specialist
As we’ve reported, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a ceasefire in Gaza to administer a mass polio vaccination campaign, including to 600,000 children under the age of eight, after samples of the disease were detected in the enclave’s wastewater.
Hamid Jafari, a polio specialist with the WHO, says that if such a ceasefire is not implemented and if healthcare workers are not granted enough freedom of movement to distribute all the vaccines, the risk of a polio outbreak both within Gaza and regionally is “very high”.
“This can spread very fast internationally and most importantly, it is a direct threat to the children of Gaza,” Jafari told Al Jazeera. “This can start paralysing children very very rapidly.”
He added: “If it [polio] spreads into Israel or the West Bank, it becomes a public health emergency there. Lebanon is at risk. Egypt is at risk. Jordan is at risk. And other countries of the region are at risk.
Japan mayor says exclusion of Israel from A-bomb commemoration not political
The mayor of Nagasaki city in Japan has reiterated that his decision to leave Israel off an invitation list of attendees at an annual ceremony to mark the US dropping of an atomic bomb on the city was not politically motivated and he will not reverse his decision.
Mayor Shiro Suzuki said an invitation was not extended to Israel’s ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, because of fears it could prompt protests against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Thursday that Suzuki cited security reasons for his decision, “including potential demonstrations against Israel’s attendance” at the ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of the August 9, 1945 bombing of the city.
The decision has caused controversy with ambassadors from the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Australia and Canada saying they will not attend the memorial service because Israel is not invited, AFP reports.
The mayor told reporters that he hoped the ceremony would be “conducted smoothly under a solemn atmosphere”, Kyodo reports.
The decision of the Western axis of evil not to attend the memorial service definitely is political.
Israeli army responds to announcement of WCK staff killing in Gaza
We reported earlier that the US-based World Central Kitchen aid group had announced the killing of a Palestinian staff member, Nadi Sallout, near Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.
The Times of Israel newspaper reports that the Israeli military said it conducted a preliminary examination and held a conversation with the WCK about the reported killing. It claimed that “there is no known incident of harm to an employee of the organization while working in the last few days”.
“The [army] examines each unusual incident individually,” the military added in response to a query, according to the newspaper.
In early April, Israel killed seven people working with the United States-based NGO in an attack on the Gaza Strip.
WCK already stated he was off duty at the time. Is that now an excuse?
