Jordan’s Queen Rania has slammed Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, describing its siege of the enclave as “a slow-motion mass murder of children”.
The wife of King Abdullah II, was speaking with CNN as Muslims throughout the world this week began marking Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.
Palestinians started began fasting on Monday for the normally joyous holiday, but with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the five-month-old war between Hamas and Israel.
Queen Rania, who was speaking from an air base in Jordan where air drops of supplies to Gaza are coordinated, said the Islamic holy month should be a period of happiness for families, but the suffering of the Palestinian people was a tragedy that couldn’t be ignored.
“This year we will welcome the holy days with very heavy hearts … but what is it like for the people of Gaza today who are hungry and thirsty and living in tents and makeshift shelters and mourning their dead,” she said.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.
Queen Rania said Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the resulting lack of essential food and medical supplies was being felt most acutely by the most vulnerable people, such as the wounded, elderly and children.
“This has been a slow-motion, mass murder of children, five months in the making.
“Children who were thriving and healthy just months ago are wasting away in front of their parents.
“Now, starvation is a very slow, cruel and painful death. Your muscles shrink, your immune system shuts down, your organs give out,”
She said it was the result of “systematic” and “deliberate” actions by the Israeli military.
The war has driven around 80 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine.
Health officials say at least 25 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a cease-fire ahead of the normally joyous holiday that would include the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid, but the talks have stalled.
– With Associated Press
