Oxfam: Israel carrying out collective punishment in Gaza

Israel is carrying out a campaign of “collective punishment” against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and this is leading to chaos, Oxfam warned on Wednesday.

“Our political leaders are failing – in abject weakness – to forge a ceasefire, which is the only possible humanitarian action that now really matters,” Oxfam International Humanitarian Director, Marta Valdes Garcia, said in a statement.

“Israel’s so called safe zones within Gaza are a mirage: unprotected, not agreed or trusted, not provisioned and not accessible. We hold genuine fears that masses of terrified people will be forced beyond Gaza itself under the guise of ‘safety’,” she added.

BREAKING: In response to @antonioguterres
invoking art. 99, @Oxfam says: "Many within the international community – particularly Israel’s state supporters – are complicit in the mass death, forcible displacement, and starvation of more than 2m people." 👉 https://t.co/hOcct5Jl1M pic.twitter.com/S7jX7KsNV8

— Oxfam International Media Team (@newsfromoxfam) December 6, 2023

“This would force the humanitarian system into an impossible choice between helping civilians and being complicit in their forced deportation.”

READ: ‘Where is humanity?’ Scottish activists decry Israel’s Gaza ‘genocide’, ‘war crimes’ in Gaza