World 'watched while genocide' has been carried out in Gaza: Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire

By Anadolu Staff

LONDON (AA) — The world has "watched while genocide has been and continues to be carried out in Gaza," Northern Irish Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire said.

Speaking last weekend in Belfast at a rally calling for an immediate peace in Gaza, Maguire said one in three children in the blockaded enclave is "suffering from malnutrition," because of Israel's relentless attacks, which have been ongoing for over eight months.

Maguire won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her role founding the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, which was later renamed the Community of the Peace People. She also criticized the media across the globe and said they were dealing with "trivia," instead of covering what has been happening in Gaza for the past eight months.

She said: "The world has watched while genocide has been and continues to be carried out in Gaza. The world has watched while Israeli forces have bombed thousands, over 36,000 men women and little children in Gaza.

"…One in three children in Gaza are suffering from malnutrition and if there is not an immediate change in Gaza, thousands and thousands of little children will die of starvation."

Maguire said that while "every television around the world knows there is starvation in Gaza" the media is "dealing with trivia and America is changing the course, prepares to go to war with China and Russia when the people of Gaza are starving."

"Shame on America's foreign policies ... and shame on Canada, and Germany and Europe."

During her speech, Maguire also made a call for people to "stand for human rights and international law for all our children, not for death, destruction."

- Nobel Peace Prize winner

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1944, Maguire had received the Nobel Peace Prize "for the courageous efforts in founding a movement to put an end to the violent conflict in Northern Ireland."

This fighting is known as the Troubles, an era of conflict between the British government and pro-British paramilitaries on one side and Irish Republicans and nationalists on the other. It ended in 1998 when the Belfast Agreement put an end to decades of armed struggle in the divided UK region of Northern Ireland.

Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed the deal, brokered by the US and eight political parties in Northern Ireland, on April 10, 1998.

It has since been dubbed the Good Friday Agreement and largely saw the end of Troubles-era violence, which cost 3,500 lives.

- More than 37,000 dead

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of whom are women and children, while nearly 84,700 others have been injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

- UN resolution

The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution that supports a Gaza cease-fire proposal backed by US President Joe Biden.

The resolution, penned by the US, received 14 votes in favor at the 15-member Security Council, with Russia abstaining.

The adopted resolution highlights the diplomatic efforts led by Egypt, the US, and Qatar, and welcomes the three-phase proposal that Biden announced in late May.

The resolution states that Israel has accepted Biden's proposal and calls on Palestinian group Hamas to do the same and implement it.