Guyana’s UN envoy says action needed to address Gaza aid crisis
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s representative at the United Nations, has been speaking to reporters in New York as she takes up her role as UN Security Council president for the month of June.
Rodrigues-Birkett said the South American country has been “vocal on Palestine” long before it joined the council, driven by a belief “that occupation is wrong, that colonisation is wrong, and that the self-determination of the people of Palestine must be exercised”.
“This is what we brought to the Security Council,” she said, adding Guyana is among several council members that have been “frustrated” by the UN body’s inaction as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza.
“We will continue to exert our efforts to work towards a solution; in the immediate term, a ceasefire,” Rodrigues-Birkett added.
“We are extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation and the aid blockade in Gaza at this point in time, and we’re hoping that we will have some movement on this at scale in the not-so-distant future. This should have been in place since long before yesterday.”
Satellite analysis shows Israel ‘changed the shape’ of Gaza: Report
About 80 percent of Gaza is now classified as Israeli military-occupied or areas where displacement orders have been issued as the enclave’s 2.3 million people continue to be herded into a tiny area in the south, a new analysis shows.
Israeli officials have been unambiguous in their plan to push the entire Palestinian population into the border region with Egypt as they promote “voluntary migration”.
The United Kingdom’s Financial Times reported that critics of the forced mass displacement said it has been into a “desert wasteland with no running water, electricity or even hospitals” and represents clear-cut “ethnic cleansing”.
“The Financial Times analysed hundreds of these evacuation orders, including about 30 issued since Israel shattered a ceasefire with Hamas in March,” it said. “Taken together they illustrate how Israel – which has authorised its military to occupy the entire enclave – has changed the shape of Gaza, leaving less and less land for Palestinians.”
Satellite imagery shows Israel’s military clearing areas and setting them up for army outposts, indicating a long-term military occupation of Gaza, the report said.
