The chief executive of London-based charity organization Oxfam has censured the UK as “intellectually and morally incoherent” over supplying arms to Israel while attempting to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“Whether you say they are components or whole weapons [being sold] is a moot point, because individual components collectively constitute these devices that are killing so many innocent people,” Halima Begum said in an interview with the British daily newspaper, The Guardian.
“The UK needs to stop selling these arms. The government can’t simultaneously give humanitarian aid and talk about its aspirations for peace in the region, then also ship bombs—it’s intellectually and morally incoherent.
“That the law doesn’t prevent the trade seems immaterial. If you knowingly sell weapons that are being used to kill thousands of innocent children and their parents, why would you continue?” she added.
Begum, who has recently returned from a work trip to the occupied Palestinian territories and was unable to enter Gaza because of the offensive on Rafah, said she was left “shell shocked” after hearing first-hand accounts of the humanitarian crisis from Palestinian colleagues evacuated from the territory.
“Gazan children are being bombed, suffering from malnutrition and facing potential famine and the UK still can’t constrain the Israeli military. It defies belief we’d support this action, our humanity seems to be seeping away.”
Begum said the global South was fairly united on what needs to happen regarding Gaza, and it seemed to be “only Western leaders that don’t see what is morally the right thing to do.”
She expressed concern that the West’s stance jeopardized prospects for a post-conflict international order based on humanitarian law and principles of human rights.
Government figures published last week showed that the UK issued 108 licenses to export munitions to Israel between October 7, when the regime launched its bloody onslaught on Gaza, on May 31, and that no arms export license application has been rejected or revoked during that timeframe.
Israel waged the atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping regime on October 7.
At least 37,337 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 85,299 individuals have sustained injuries. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well. (PressTV.ir)
