ALEXANDRIA, VA – Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) has released the following statement:
Islamic Relief welcomes today’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which comes as Israeli attacks on civilians intensify across north and south Gaza and life-saving aid is running out. As people starve across Gaza, vital food aid stands rotting in the hot sun just a few miles away, prevented from entering as crossings into Gaza remain shut or inaccessible.
The ICJ today ordered Israel to immediately halt its attack on Rafah and ensure sufficient aid can enter Gaza unhindered. ICJ rulings are legally binding but recent rulings on Gaza have been ignored, and the situation for civilians has become even worse. We call on world leaders to use all their leverage to ensure that the latest ruling is fully implemented without a moment to waste.
The crisis in Gaza is growing more catastrophic every hour. Heavy Israeli bombardments continue to strike Rafah in the south and Jabalia in the north, killing many more civilians over the past 24 hours. More than 900,000 Palestinians have been forced out of Rafah and parts of northern Gaza over the last 2 weeks, with most now sheltering in appalling conditions. Multiple families share single tents, with streams of raw sewage running close by as sanitation systems break down. Others are sheltering in the open because there are no more tents available, or in bomb-damaged buildings that could collapse at any moment. Many people have now been displaced 5 or 6 times on Israeli orders and have virtually nothing left. Even starving children, people in wheelchairs, sick patients and the elderly have been forced to walk for miles, with nowhere safe to go.
Almost no humanitarian aid has entered Gaza in the last 2 weeks, with most crossings now shut or inaccessible due to the attacks. Islamic Relief staff and partners in Gaza continue to distribute daily food and other life-saving aid across Gaza, but it is getting harder by the day as supplies dwindle. Fuel shortages are also becoming a matter of life and death, with hospitals and bakeries running out of essential fuel needed to keep operating.
Islamic Relief continues to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to attacks on civilians throughout Gaza, not only in Rafah; and for Israel to ensure that all overland crossings are fully open for humanitarian aid and commercial supplies.
MEDIA CONTACT
Syed M. Hassan
mhassan@irusa.org or
(571) 421-7032 (CELL)
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Islamic Relief USA, based in Alexandria, Va., is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization. Its mission is to provide relief and development in a dignified manner regardless of gender, race, or religion, and works to empower individuals in their communities and give them a voice in the world. Its programs benefit millions of people each year in more than 40 countries around the world, including in the United States.
Islamic Relief USA is on the U.S. government’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) charity list, and it is also a signatory to the code of conduct of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.