Jordan's Queen Rania appeals for humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza

Jan 5, 2009, 17:00 GMT

Amman - Jordan's Queen Rania on Monday issued an impassioned appeal to the world community to move promptly to force Israel to halt its offensive on the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons.

'At the very least, we must push for a ceasefire, a humanitarian ceasefire, a ceasefire for children, to help the wounded, to look for those buried under the rubble, to tend to the sick and elderly trapped in their homes, and to bring in vital medical supplies, equipment and staff,' the queen said at a hastily arranged press conference.

'This is the message I am sending world leaders: Our humanity is incomplete when children, irrespective of nationality, are victims of military operations,' she said.

She said the casualty toll in the Israeli attack included more than 70 dead children, close to 600 injured.

'What does the world tell to their mothers? To the Palestinian mother who lost five daughters in one day? To the mothers watching their children cry in pain, huddle in fear and deal with more trauma than any of us will experience in an entire lifetime,' she said.

Queen Rania read out the first two articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and criticized the world's failure to apply the document to the Palestinians in Gaza.

'Either the declaration is not so universal, or the people of Gaza are not human beings worthy of the same 'universal rights',' she said.

Also speaking at the press conference were representatives for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), who described the situation in the Gaza Strip as a 'humanitarian crisis.'