Emma Lewell MP: No amount of strong words will ever be enough to remove the dark stain this war will leave on humanity

Written words alone will never truly convey their pain and trauma.

Looking into their eyes, watching their body language, conveys deep heartbreak, loss and fear that is incomparable to anything else I have ever witnessed.

This week, the BBC televised harrowing images of malnourished children in Gaza. Their bones clearly visible, their skin infected, their eyes deeply sunken and their cries barely audible. These are the children who haven’t been killed by bombs. These are the children dying before the eyes of our world, because aid is being withheld from them.

Since the 2nd of March, Israel has blocked all shipments of humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies into Gaza.

It is reported that a quarter of Gaza’s population is at risk of famine. People are starving to death, in excruciating pain, whilst food is rotting at the border.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment, released on Monday, found that half a million people were facing starvation.

Aid agencies have said the blockade could be a war crime and amounts to a policy of starvation.

Israeli ministers have said Israel’s decision to block this aid is a pressure lever. This is a weaponisation of humanitarian aid.

At the United Nations Security Council, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said: “I ask you to reflect — for a moment — on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza,”

Urging the UNSC to ‘act now’ to ‘prevent genocide’.

We hear world leaders, in the strongest terms, saying civilians must be protected and international humanitarian law upheld.

Strong words ring hollow.

Hamas terrorists are still holding up to 58 hostages, with reports that only up to 24 of them are still alive. According to the Red Cross, the Gaza death toll is over 45,000.

The international community has failed innocent civilians. No amount of strong words will ever be enough to remove the dark stain this war will leave on humanity.