Failure By Security Council To Pass Ceasefire Resolution Is An Abdication Of Legal And Moral Responsibility To Children

The international community has disregarded the lives of one million children in Gaza yet again with the failure of the UN Security Council to pass another ceasefire resolution today, Save the Children said.

The vote took place just days after the UN Commission of Inquiry found that the Government of Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, and as Israeli forces launched a ground offensive in Gaza City. This follows weeks of bombardment of the city and displacement orders forcing nearly one million people already facing famine to flee south to ever shrinking and overcrowded patches of land.

Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for Save the Children in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe said:

"Just two days ago, a UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that genocide is being committed in Gaza. What we are witnessing on the ground is consistent with these findings.

"These findings are among the clearest legal assessments yet, but Israeli forces are still tightening their grip on Gaza City-killing, starving, and displacing children and families. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council and Israel’s allies remain unwilling to act.

"It is clearer now than ever before that not only the Government of Israel but also the international community has the moral and legal responsibility to stop this. If now is not the moment, when is?

"We call on the UN Security Council to reconvene without delay and to continue meeting-day after day if necessary-until it fulfils its moral and legal obligations to secure a ceasefire and guarantee humanitarian access for children."

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