Urgent Health Updates: Consequences of war on Gaza - April 7, 2024
The Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council is sharing information on the health implications of the attacks. We will update in a week. Please use this information to organize & educate. As the Israeli government threatens an all out assault on Rafah, increasing the risk of further massacres & genocide, starvation is rising & multiple countries move to defund & destroy UNRWA, this is a time to make your voices heard. The killing of aid workers has helped focus world attention on the humanitarian catastrophe.
The population in the Gaza Strip continues to face an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, characterized by intense hostilities and escalating humanitarian access constraints that have severely impeded the delivery of life saving humanitarian assistance and services. While humanitarian organizations continue efforts to scale up response operations, intense aerial bombardment in densely populated urban areas, large-scale military ground operations, unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination, prevailing insecurity, the closure of key border crossings, movement restrictions, infrastructure damage and persistent access restrictions and denials by Israeli authorities have generated a volatile, insecure, and non-permissive operational environment. These obstacles are hindering the ability of humanitarian actors to address the essential needs of Gaza’s population.
Spoke with Concerned Black Clergy and other Atlanta clergy. We met at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
4/10 spoke at Villa International to a group of doctors nurses and others in health related fields from Australia, Japan, Gaza, Greece, India and other countries on the Health and Human Rights Consequences of the war on Gaza followed by a lively far reaching conversation.
Famine Has Begun in Northern Gaza, U.S. Official Says
Met Dr. Ola Ziara a pediatrician and human rights worker from Gaza who gave a brilliant and revealing talk on health care in Gaza at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University as part of her Humphrey Fellowship Program. Great to have a new friend and colleague from Gaza.
At the North Decatur Presbyterian Church in Georgia, a conversation about the lack of Palestine in children’s literature, the toolkit Nora Lester Murad and I have developed for K-12 teachers and librarians falsely accused of antisemitism (see on www.alicerothchildbooks.com) and book reading from Finding Melody Sullivan, my young adult novel. Very engaged audience and vigorous book sales!