People of Hastings mount ’empty pot’ protest against Israel’s starvation blockade of Gaza

“We won’t be silent as Israel starves Gaza!”

Today, members of Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HDPSC) and Hastings Jews for Justice (HJJ) took over the roundabout outside the town council offices to bang empty pots in protest against Israel’s deliberate starvation of around two million genocide survivors in Gaza and the UK government’s refusal to do anything to prevent or break the blockade.

More than a million children are at imminent risk of death as Israel has blocked all aid entering the strip for more than 60 days. On Thursday the United Nations released a statement calling on Israel to immediately lift the blockade which means that not a single piece of bread or a bottle of water has entered the strip in two months. Israel is also blocking medicines, fuel and anaesthetics from reaching the desperate Palestinian population and has targeted desalination plants to deprive the people of access to clean water.

The UN statement read:

International law is unequivocal: As the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in. Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip. Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support. It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills.

Since the latest blockade began on 2 March, more than 65,000 children have been hospitalised in Gaza due to severe malnutrition.

HDPSC chair Katy Colley said:

Children are dying from malnutrition and we are watching it happen in real time. The appalling images coming out of Gaza are a call to action. The UK must stop arming Israel and introduce sanctions now.

This unbearable cruelty and collective punishment stains the conscience of the world. We refuse to be silent as children are starved to death. Whoever you are and wherever you are, we urge everyone to stand up, speak out and use your voice to end this monstrous crime.

The UK government has still done precisely nothing to fulfil its obligations under international law to intervene and prevent genocide.

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