International legal and moral responsibility towards Palestine must not be limited to describing the state of catastrophe, the destruction, the aggravation of the humanitarian catastrophe and the change of the geographical and demographic reality by the force of occupation. It must go further and take the necessary measures imposed by international law to protect the Palestinians.
This is what the Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs has said in the face of the lukewarm international reaction to the resumption of aggression and the blockade applied by Israel against the Gaza Strip, where more than 50,000 people are reported to have died since October 2023.
In its statement, the Foreign Ministry says it ‘follows with deep concern the international and UN reactions to the resumption by the Israeli occupying forces of the war of genocide, displacement and annexation’.
Global actions to end the blockade fall short of the suffering and pain of our Palestinian people and families, who live in a cycle of deliberate killing, forced displacement and migration, the text stresses. It has also condemned Israeli attacks and its use of hunger, thirst and deprivation of medical treatment as weapons of war.
The foreign ministry asked its embassies and missions abroad to intensify the diplomatic campaign in the face of what it described as a war of genocide.
Increased action is needed to expose Israeli crimes and plans, and to mobilise a broader international front to put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to force it to stop its attacks, it said.
The foreign ministry also denounced Israeli plans to displace the population of the Gaza Strip and annex that territory and parts of the occupied West Bank, and criticised ‘the escalation of crimes and violations’ committed by the country’s security forces. It also accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of extending the aggression and prolonging the war.
The demolitions and evictions taking place in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, as well as the house demolitions in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem are damning evidence of Israeli expansionist plans. Then there are the extrajudicial killings, arrests and forced demographic changes in the Palestinian territories.
‘Israel’s lack of international responsibility as an occupying power encourages its authorities in that nation to continue the implementation of its colonial and expansionist plans,’ the foreign ministry stressed.
It noted that such actions undermine the chances of implementing the two-state solution and will lead to further escalation and instability in the Middle East. PL
(Translated by Cristina Popa – Email: gcpopa83@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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