LONDON — Relief, a British charity, notes that hundreds of thousands of families remain homeless in the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire, with many still digging for the bodies of loved ones from beneath 50 million tonnes of rubble that used to be homes, schools and health clinics.
“Neighbourhoods are now strewn with unexploded ordnance that have blown up and killed young children as they play or walk home,” it said.
“The scale of destruction is unprecedented. Entire neighbourhoods and public services have been obliterated, and livelihoods shattered, and almost everyone left grieving. Israel’s attacks have systematically targeted every aspect of Gaza’s infrastructure and social fabric in a deliberate campaign to render Gaza unliveable,” it added.
The charity also noted the surge in aid into Gaza since the truce, but said the amount “remains a drop in the ocean compared to the overwhelming needs”.
“International governments must ensure there is accountability for the horrors and crimes of the past 500 days,” Islamic Relief stressed.
Israel-Gaza conflict fuels record level of anti-Muslim hatred in Britain, monitoring group says
The number of anti-Muslim incidents in Britain rose to a new high in 2024, according to data compiled by monitoring organisation Tell MAMA, which said the conflict in Gaza had “super-fuelled” online hate, Reuters reports.
Tell MAMA said it verified 5,837 anti-Muslim hate cases — a mix of both online and in-person incidents — last year, compared with 3,767 cases the year before and 2,201 in 2022. The organisation’s data goes back to 2012 and is compiled using data-sharing agreements with police forces in England and Wales.
“The Middle East conflict super-fuelled online anti-Muslim hate,” the group said in a statement, adding that “the Israel and Gaza War, the Southport murders and riots … created a surge in anti-Muslim hate cases reported to Tell MAMA from 2023-2024”.
China says Gaza is not a ‘bargaining chip’
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told the United Nations Security Council that Gaza and the West Bank are “not a bargaining chip in political trade-offs”, Reuters reports
On the Middle East, Wang said it was vital to uphold the two-state solution.
“Gaza and the West Bank are the homeland of the Palestinian people, not a bargaining chip in political trade-offs. The Palestinians governing Palestine is an important principle that must be followed in the post-conflict governance of Gaza,” he said. — Agencies
