And the War on Gaza continues into its 207th day........

 

The Palestinian civilian death toll over the last 206 days of the State of Israel's war against Gaza has now reached at least 34,535 people, with another est. 77,704 injured. Approx. half of all those killed are thought to have been Palestinian women & children.

In that count is the premature infant rescued from her mother’s womb shortly after the woman was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah. Baby Sabreen Jouda died in a Gaza hospital on Thursday, 25 April after her health deteriorated & medical teams unable to save her [Al Jazeera, 26 April 2024]

While at least 66 people were killed and 138 others were injured in Israeli attacks that took place last Saturday, 27 April.

That comes to a crude average of 545 civilians killed or injured every single day. 

GENEVA, April 24 (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip could surpass famine thresholds of food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality in six weeks, an official from the World Food Programme said on Wednesday.

"We are getting closer by the day to a famine situation," said Gian Caro Cirri, Geneva director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

"There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds -- food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality -- will be passed in the next six weeks."

Israel's military response, to the Hamas militia terrorist attack on Israeli soil on 7 October 2023, ceased to be a proportionate response within a week of the commencement of aerial bombardment of northern Gaza.

TheGuardian, 30 April 2024:

The Israeli government believes that the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague is about to file war crimes charges against Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. We can’t know for sure – the ICC has kept its plans close to the vest – but the Israeli prime minister has good reason to worry, and the defenses he has offered so far are unlikely to help him.

The ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s most likely target is Netanyahu’s starvation strategy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Because the Israeli government has refused to let ICC staff enter Gaza, it will take time for Khan to complete the detailed investigation required to demonstrate other possible Israeli war crimes, such as indiscriminately bombing civilian areas and firing on military targets with foreseeably disproportionate civilian consequences. But the facts surrounding Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid are readily available.

During his two recent visits to the region, Khan stressed that, as international humanitarian law requires, Palestinian civilians in Gaza “must have access to basic food, water and desperately needed medical supplies, without further delay, and at pace and at scale”. He warned the Israeli government: “If you do not do so, do not complain when my Office is required to act.” The standard he cited is endorsed by virtually every government in the world including Israel, Britain, the United States, and, as a United Nations observer state, Palestine.

For much of the war Israel has allowed just enough food into Gaza to avoid widespread death, but not enough to prevent pervasive hunger and, in some parts of Gaza according to the USAid administrator, Samantha Power, “famine”. Oxfam calculated that hundreds of thousands of people in northern Gaza were receiving on average only 245 calories a day, about one-tenth of normal requirements. At least 28 children younger than 12 were reported to have died of malnutrition as of 17 April.....

Read the full Guardian article here.

Yaegl Elder, patriarch, anthropologist, historian, former university lecturer, Doctor of Letters honoris causa Ron Heron of Yamba passed away on Thursday 13 July 2023 and his funeral will be held on Monday 24 July. NOTE: This post includes the image of a person who is deceased

 

Clarence Valley Independent, 19 July 2023:

The Indigenous community and people across the Clarence Valley are mourning the death of Yaegl Elder Uncle Ron Heron, who passed away on Thursday, July 13. He is pictured here at the opening of the Yuraygir Coastal Walk in 2014. Image: Geoff Helisma.

Aboriginal communities across Australia and people from the Northern Rivers are in mourning following the sudden passing of renowned Yaegl patriarch Uncle Ron Heron.

Uncle Ron Heron was born at Lismore in 1947, schooled in the mission system and worked in the Clarence Valley as a cane cutter and picking peas until he decided to make his mark on the world in his early 30’s.

His niece Lesley King told the CV Independent Uncle Ron was a working as a cane cutter when he woke one day determined to make his mark on Aboriginal society and education.

“Prior to all the studies he did, he was just an ordinary cane cutter, he used to go and do cane cutting all around the Clarence River,” she said.

“Then he woke up one day thinking he had to do something else with his life, he said he just decided ‘this isn’t me’, so he started studying, it was his own wake up call.

“So, he started working with Community Health in the Clarence Valley as an Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol counsellor, and he did a bit of work in the Richmond Valley travelling all around to places like Baryulgil.”

Lesley said Uncle Ron decided to go to university, so he moved the Canberra to study and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters, by thesis (now Master of Letters) in prehistory and anthropology.

“After he got his degree, he came back to the Richmond River area and he worked at Southern Cross University at Lismore for 10 years lecturing in Indigenous Studies,” she said.

Once a year Macquarie University came to Maclean High School as part of the Rivers of Learning program and Uncle Ron was involved in a week of training and learning, Lesley said, then they would all celebrate together.

Contributions to extensive research at Macquarie University on bush medicines, in international scientific journals, lectures and storytelling led to Uncle Ron being awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from Macquarie University in September 2014, an extremely proud moment for the family and the Yaegl people.

“The family were so proud of Uncle Ron, he worked hard all of his study life,” Lesley said.

“He was a very gentle man; he was very positive in everything he did.

“He was passionate about Aboriginal issues, mostly with archaeology, but also with National Parks and Wildlife, to help educate the other side of the world, the Europeans.

“Uncle Ron met tonnes of beautiful people in his work and in his training and left a positive mark with everyone he met.”

When a mural of Uncle Ron painted on a pump station at Maclean was graffitied in 2022, Lesley said he was ‘gutted’, but when artist Nitsua unveiled a repainted mural in June 2023, he was immensely proud…..

During NAIDOC Week celebrations early this month, Lesley said Uncle Ron had a great time at the elders’ lunch and at the South Grafton community day.

“He was great, he was laughing and out meeting mates and friends and other Elders,” she said.

“Then he got sick on the weekend, and we took him to Maclean Hospital and all his tests were good until he had a blood test and we found out he had a heart attack.”

After the shock of the news Uncle Ron had suffered a heart attack, Lesley said arrangements were made for him to have bypass surgery, but tragically he passed away before the operation…..

“He was the father of all of us Yaegl people after we lost our mum and for all the other’s that had lost their mum and dad.

“Right up until his passing he was teaching all of his grandchildren what he was trained to do.”

Uncle Ron Heron will be farewelled at the Maclean Anglican Church on Monday, July 24, at a time to be confirmed.

Cartoons of the Week

John Shakespeare

 

Cathy Wilcox