Israel deliberately blocks Gaza humanitarian aid: Former leaders of Ireland, New Zealand say
‘We have been seeing in the warehouse the tents that have not been delivered,’ says former Irish President Mary Robinson
Mohammad Sio |13.08.2025 - TRT/AA
-‘A significant proportion of manifested trucks are turned away with vital supplies,’ says former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark
ISTANBUL
Former Irish President Mary Robinson and New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark have accused Israel of deliberately continuing to block vital humanitarian aid from reaching the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Robinson and Clark, representing the global leaders group The Elders, visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing last week to check on aid trucks stranded at the border due to Israel’s closure of the Palestinian side of the terminal.
They told reporters on Tuesday that despite some food getting through, a shocking volume of life-saving supplies – generators, wheelchairs, crutches, oxygen cylinders, tents, children’s books – remained undelivered.
“We have been seeing in the warehouse the tents that have not been delivered, the generators that have not been delivered, the wheelchairs, the crutches, the children’s books, and other things that are not delivered,” Robinson said.
“Some food is getting in. ... A driver was being rejected for the second time because of minor problems … It is utterly devastating to see the sheer volume of vital materials sitting: oxygen cylinders, generators, wheelchairs, crutches. It's unbelievable.”
Clark said they visited Rafah to check the real situation on the ground.
“It’s absolutely shocking to us. And then to see full trucks being turned away. … A significant proportion of manifested trucks are turned away with vital supplies.” She declared, "This has to stop.”
‘People are starving’
The former officials issued a joint appeal for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted access to Gaza.
“There has to be a ceasefire, and there has to be an opening of all of the access ... The people are starving, children are starving and dying of malnutrition. We are seeing an unfolding famine and an unfolding genocide, and it is not acceptable,” Robinson said.
Israel has continued to impose a systematic starvation policy on approximately 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza by sealing off all crossings to aid shipments, which have been stranded at the border since March 2. The blockade has pushed the enclave into famine.
Gaza requires around 600 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of its population.
“Today we express our shock and outrage at Israel’s deliberate obstruction of the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza, causing mass starvation to spread,” Robinson and Clark said in a joint statement.
“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.
“We saw evidence of food and medical aid denied entry, and heard witness accounts of the killing of Palestinian civilians, including children, while trying to access aid inside Gaza. The deliberate destruction of health facilities in Gaza means children facing acute malnutrition cannot be treated effectively. At least 36 children starved to death just in the month of July.
They called on Israel to immediately reopen Gaza’s crossings to allow access to humanitarian aid.
“No shelter materials have entered Gaza since March this year, and we saw huge numbers of tents ready for delivery but blocked by the Israeli authorities. This leaves families already displaced multiple times without protection. Ninety-six percent of households face water insecurity.”
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 61,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
In a statement, France criticized the expansion of Israeli military occupation of North Gaza as “rash and disastrous”. He warned that both Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages would suffer as a result of the operation and would be the primary victims. Macron reiterated that a two-state solution would prevent any further conflict and called for a temporary international stabilization mission.
Specifically, Macron outlined that France is collaborating with the international community and the United Nations to achieve this. President Macron proposed that such a stabilization mission should take the form of an “international coalition under the mandate of the UN Security Council”.
France also condemned the Israeli strike, which targeted and killed five Al Jazeera journalists.
President Macron announced France’s recognition of Palestine as a state at a UN international conference in New York in July, with countries including the UK and Canada in support. France was the first of the G7 countries to officially recognize Palestine as a state, which will come into effect in September. On X (formerly Twitter), Macron stated, “Consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine.”
Macron’s proposal for an international coalition is significant as it is deeply tied to this recent recognition of the State of Palestine. An international approach would also assist in legitimizing the recognition with the support and backing of international actors.
Under international law, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) Section 1 protects the right to self-determination
By AFP
August 12, 2025
Helen Clark, member of the Elders and former prime minister of New Zealand, speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting - Copyright JIJI Press/AFP STR
The Elders group of international stateswomen and statesmen for the first time on Tuesday called the situation in Gaza an “unfolding genocide”, saying that Israel’s obstruction of aid was causing a “famine”.
“Today we express our shock and outrage at Israel’s deliberate obstruction of the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the non-governmental group of public figures, founded by former South Africa president Nelson Mandela in 2007, said in a statement after delegates visited border crossings in Egypt.
“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,” it added.
Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, called on Israel to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza so aid could be delivered, after visiting the site.
“Many new mothers are unable to feed themselves or their newborn babies adequately, and the health system is collapsing,” she said.
“All of this threatens the very survival of an entire generation.”
Clark was joined by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the visit.
She said that international leaders “have the power and the legal obligation to apply measures to pressure this Israeli government to end its atrocity crimes”.
– Call for ceasefire, hostage release –
The delegation “saw evidence of food and medical aid denied entry, and heard witness accounts of the killing of Palestinian civilians, including children, while trying to access aid inside Gaza,” said the statement.
They urged Israel and Hamas to agree a ceasefire and for the immediate release of remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.
The London-based group also called for the “recognition of the State of Palestine”, but added “this will not halt the unfolding genocide and famine in Gaza”.
“Transfers of arms and weapons components to Israel must be suspended immediately,” it added, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be sanctioned.
Israel has faced mounting criticism over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with United Nations-backed experts warning of widespread famine unfolding in besieged Gaza.
Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as well as over his plans to expand the war, which he has vowed to do with or without the backing of Israel’s allies.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,499 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, whose toll the UN considers reliable.
Council of Europe cautions on weapon sales to Israel
By AFP
August 12, 2025
The Council of Europe has 46 members - Copyright AFP/File Patrick T. Fallon
The Council of Europe urged its member states on Tuesday to halt deliveries of weapons to Israel if they could be used for human rights violations.
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council’s commissioner for human rights, said member states should do “their utmost to prevent and address violations of international human rights” in the conflict.
“This includes applying existing legal standards to ensure that arms transfers are not authorised where there is a risk that they may be used to commit human rights violations,” he said, in a statement.
It was also “essential to intensify efforts to provide relief to those affected by the conflict, by supporting efforts to ensure unhindered access for humanitarian assistance and by pressing for the immediate release of hostages”, O’Flaherty said.
The call by the Council — a human rights organisation representing 46 states — comes shortly after Germany said it would halt delivery to Israel of some weapons that could be used in Gaza as part of Israeli plans to take control of Gaza City.
O’Flaherty said the Council had taken note of this and other government initiatives, and also of contributions by some national human rights structures in raising awareness.
“However, more needs to be done, and quickly,” he said.
Several world leaders have condemned Israel’s decision to widen the Gaza war.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the plan to target the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza was “the best way to end the war”.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, United Nations officials warned on Monday, describing overflowing hospitals, critically malnourished children, and desperate civilians risking their lives to secure food for their families.
In a situation update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that civilians have repeatedly been killed while attempting to collect food and water. Health facilities are operating far beyond capacity, with shortages of fuel, medicine, and essential supplies severely compromising care.
Agencies have called for urgent action to prevent further loss of life and to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to the besieged enclave. UNICEF has warned that children are “dying before reaching hospitals,” a grim indicator of the collapse of critical services.
World Heath Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that July saw nearly 12,000 children under five-years-old diagnosed with acute malnutrition—the highest monthly figure on record. Since late May, more than 1,600 people have been killed and nearly 12,000 injured while trying to access food. The scale of need has overwhelmed humanitarian agencies, who stress that current aid deliveries fall far short of the 500-600 daily trucks required to stabilize the situation.
The deepening emergency has largely resulted from growing restrictions on humanitarian access and the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure. UN agencies have condemned the use of starvation as a weapon of war, citing reports that one-in-five children is malnourished and that over 100 starvation-related deaths had occurred by late July. Senior UN officials told the UN Security Council that the situation was “unspeakable,” as civilians face bombardment, hunger, and a collapsed health system.
Legal experts and human rights monitors have stressed that the right to food, water, health, and life is protected under international humanitarian and human rights law. Continued restrictions on aid and attacks on civilian infrastructure, they warn, may constitute grave breaches of these obligations. As emphasized in recent UN briefings, the crisis not only threatens Palestinians’ immediate survival but risks entrenching long-term harm, especially for children whose physical and cognitive development has been irreversibly damaged.
The UN has reiterated its call for a sustained ceasefire, the removal of access barriers, and the protection of all civilians, warning that, without decisive action, Gaza’s collapse will accelerate beyond recovery.
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