Flotilla passenger headed to Gaza tells France 24 we have collective responsibility to aid civilians

Flotilla passenger headed to Gaza tells France 24 we have collective responsibility to aid civilians

[Music] The destruction and the killing continues unabated. After days of heavy bombing, Israel has now launched its ground offensive into Gaza City, further destroying an already largely demolished city with more civilians are being killed, including children. Many, many more are being severely wounded and thousands are being forced to try to flee the bombs, but with nowhere safe to go to and still fighting the Israeli made famine conditions. The ground incursion came on the same day that the Commission for the UN Human Rights Council joined other international scholars in saying the annihilation Israel is carrying out is clearly a genocide. While governments from Canada to France have condemned the latest move from Israel, still no action being taken to stop the onslaught. Well, before we look at the very latest coming to us from Gaza City to get more insight on it all, we can cross now and speak with an emergency doctor who has worked in Gaza during the past two years during the heavy bombing on the strip and on the hospitals in it. A doctor now on board the global flotillaa which is sailing towards Gaza hoping to break the illegal blockade and bring some vital supplies to starving trapped Palestinians. Dr. James Smith, thanks so much for your time and joining us here on France 24. Can I start simply as we see you’re sitting aboard that flotilla, can I start just simply by asking you how you guys are doing now where this uh massive movement is is currently at? Yes. It’s a shame I can’t show you the view around me, but as I’m looking out now, I can see several of the boats in front of me. Uh the flotilla is currently 29 vessels. We will shortly be meeting with a further 18 that are waiting uh at anchor just off the coast of Sicily. Um and more hopefully will be joining from Greece, potentially other countries over the course of the next couple of days. Um after this flotilla um has has well we hope successfully reached Gaza, there will be many more following in the coming weeks um a sort of a staggered uh campaign of of ongoing attempts to break uh Israel’s illegal siege. Now while you say sail though James uh things have only gotten worse in Gaza, Israel launching that ground offensive. I know you’ve worked in Gaza until quite recently. Are you still managing to have any contact with the Palestinians that are trapped there? I am. Yes, absolutely. I’m in daily contact with friends and colleagues in the hospitals there. Just yesterday, Alantisi Hospital, a specialist children’s hospital in Gaza City was repeatedly struck by the Israeli military. um patients still in the hospital, patients, carers and health care workers including critically unwell children as you’ve mentioned in your introduction just there. Um Israel’s ground aerial and and and sea assault of the entirety of Gaza, but specifically now Gaza City continues and intensifies as we speak. I I I mean these are the most horrific conditions. I I I struggle now to find the language. barbarity, catastrophe, the the the horrors of this situation uh only amplified frankly by the inaction again as you mentioned in your introduction there of global powers who have a legal, political and moral obligation to act to prevent uh the commission of genocide. They’ve clearly failed to do that. Uh the situation in Gaza is a genocide and has been a genocide for almost two years now. And yet these powers still don’t act um to to to bring about an end to to Israel’s ongoing attacks. Indeed. And I mean James Smith, you were you were a firsthand witness of what has been happening. Can you tell us a bit of the time you were in Gaza, what you saw and and what you were able to tell authorities when you came home? I mean, the footage that we’re now seeing of people fleeing south from Gaza City is is reminiscent of uh what we saw when uh people were forced to flee from Rafa um north to the middle area. Now people are being uh pressed into this tiny strip um as you can see in the footage there along the coastline. um hospitals repeatedly attacked. Every single healthc care facility that I visited in Gaza had been attacked in one form or another, either with direct air or artillery fire, uh gunfire, um or of course by the intentional deprivation of uh the equipment that it that that these facilities require simply to function. When I came back from Gaza, I and many others and of course Palestinian healthcare workers themselves have testified to uh the the the targeted and systematic violence that we directly witnessed. Um what is abundantly clear I I I met with uh French politicians, British politicians, Spanish politicians. What’s abundantly clear is that there’s no lack of uh awareness or understanding. uh the these politicians cannot claim that they don’t know what is going on in Gaza. They are acutely aware and they have been now for almost two years and they have still chosen not to act. And Dr. Smith, when you went in to Gaza, I mean, I can’t imagine the working conditions, but I believe you know everything was being done to stop even international doctors trying to save lives of Palestinians, even baby formula taking out of suitcases. That’s correct. Um I myself was denied uh entry to Gaza twice by the Israeli military arbitrarily, no reason given. Approximately 50% of international healthare workers are denied access by Israel. This is of course part of um it its wider strategy. This is this forms a very core pillar of Israel’s genocidal strategy which is to intentionally deprive um humanitarian aid uh from reaching Gaza. um healthare workers, other humanitarian workers from entering Gaza while at the same time systematically targeting Palestinian healthare workers, Palestinian humanitarian professionals um in an attempt to um deprive Palestinians of the most basic necessities that are required simply to sustain life. Indeed, a basic food and medical care, clean water. Um, when you speak, going back to the the contact you have with people that are trapped in Gaza City today. I mean, they’re being told to flee, but there isn’t actually anywhere to go. Any idea what they are trying to do to survive? Well, most people now that have chosen to to to flee have moved down the coastal road, which is the only road that they can use to flee towards Debbala and and Al- Moasi. Um, prior to these latest uh force displacement orders as imposed by Israel, approximately 10% of Gaza um sorry uh 90% of Gaza uh was already subject to force displacement orders or uh in the direct control of the Israeli military on the ground. There is no space in Gaza for 2.1 million people to safely shelter in a dignified fashion. Um I I mean we need to just cut through the rhetoric that Israel is presenting here. I see several uh media agencies and and and political analysts still reproducing the language that Israel is using that these are um uh evacuation orders. This is a strategy of progressive ethnic cleansing that we’re seeing here that is being dressed up as something somehow humanitarian. The absurdity uh defies comprehension. Yeah. Dr. Smith, you mentioned the lack of reaction uh from international authorities who who have seen what is happening. The flotilla an example of what people can do, how people are taking things into their own hands, coming together. Uh there are of course people that can’t be part of that flotilla. You know, what do you suggest to people who are feeling the same as part of those summar people that are there’s protests planned again on the streets of Paris here at half past 6 this evening. There’s that Thursday boycott for Gaza that has been going on. But what do you think is useful for the average citizen to do the citizen who wants to react as you are yourself doing? I I really appreciate you you asking this question. I mean the Palestine solidarity movement is at its biggest. This is uh in the history of the the Palestine Solidarity Movement. We have never seen a moment like this. The flotilla is just one uh element of a much wider um strategy of resistance to um Israel’s genocide, but also Israel’s um history of settler colonialism, apartheid, and occupation. Uh in London last week, there were protests against the arms fair at which uh Israeli arms companies were marketing their wares. Um there are protests on the streets of several cities every single day now um in solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinian people. And that movement will continue to grow um and it must continue to grow uh after a ceasefire and once the genocide is finally brought to um its end. But of course all of us bear a collective responsibility to prevent the commission of atrocity crimes. The genocide convention specifically refers to state obligations, but we all bear a moral duty to do absolutely everything in our power to prevent people from allowing situations of violence and injustice to fester as Israel has done not just over the course of the last two years uh but over the course of its 80year history. And finally, to people who say they don’t feel there is any point in taking part of these protests that have been ongoing for two years, what would you tell them? We must we must we must continue. Um we owe it to our our friends in Palestine to continue. Um as you said, not everyone can join a flotilla. Not everyone can take to the streets in protest, but there are a whole host of actions that people can and should be taking to press their political representatives to uphold um their their legal and political obligations. Dr. James Smith, emergency doctor on that global smooth flotilla. Thanks so much for joining us and your time here on France 24.

Eve Irvine welcomes Dr. James Smith, an emergency doctor who has worked in war‐torn Gaza over the past two years. He is now on board the flotilla in an effort to end the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid. He argues that all of us bear a “collective responsibility” to prevent atrocities and warns that, with 90 % of Gaza displaced, there is no dignified refuge for 2.1 million people. He says the flotilla is one element in a wider Palestinian solidarity movement resisting genocide. Dr. Smith challenges world leaders to rise to the occasion: “They know and they have chosen not to act.”
#Flotilla #Gaza #Genocide

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