Israel faces wide international condemnation for attack on Gaza

Israel faced international condemnation from around the world for its latest military offensive against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip before a ceasefire brokered by Egypt came into force on Sunday night. Arab and Islamic organisations have joined national governments in condemning the attacks and calling for international protection for the Palestinian people.

Russia expressed its deep concern on Saturday over the developments in the Gaza Strip, affirming its support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders based on the resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly.

“The Israeli Air Force attacks on the Gaza Strip on Friday led to a new phase in the escalation of tension that threatens to turn into a large-scale military confrontation and a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which is already very bad,” said the Foreign Ministry in Moscow. It stressed that Russia supports a comprehensive and long-term agreement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned and denounced the Israeli aggression which killed and injured dozens of Palestinians. The ministry pointed out that brutal aggression is a continuation of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces, including violations of international law and UN resolutions.

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It called on the international community to assume its responsibilities with immediate action to stop the Israeli attacks and ensure that the occupation authorities pay heed to the UN Charter and international law. Kuwait also called for the international community to protect the Palestinian people.

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry called on Saturday for the international community to intervene urgently to stop the Israeli attack and demand the occupation state to abide by UN resolutions in order to protect Palestinian civilians suffering greatly from the unjust Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip.

Algeria condemned all Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It called for urgent intervention to stop it, and renewed its full solidarity with the Palestinian people. This dangerous escalation, said the Foreign Ministry in Algiers, is an extension of Israel’s systematic violations against civilians, against all relevant international covenants and resolutions.

The ministry added its name to the call for the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to “intervene urgently to stop these attacks and to impose respect for the rights of the Palestinian people, especially their inalienable right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that it holds the Israeli occupation responsible for the dangerous escalation in the Gaza Strip. It called for Israeli officials to be held to account for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ministry noted that the international community’s lack of interest regarding the blood of innocent Palestinians, whether children, women or the elderly, reflects open complicity with the Israeli aggression and neglect for the values of international law and the UN Charter. It also affirmed Syria’s support for the Palestinian people in defending their rights to life and freedom.

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Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry said that it is monitoring with deep concern the escalating tension in the region which has followed the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. It affirmed the unacceptability of the killing of civilians, including children, and stressed the need to “immediately end” the attacks before they turn into a spiral of conflict.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza in order to protect the civilians there. “Ireland calls for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, which is an obligation under international law,” said Coveney on Twitter. “I am particularly concerned about the effect of this on children.”

The Arab League condemned the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which comes in the context of the ongoing war against the Palestinian people. The Secretariat General told the media that it holds the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for this aggression, its repercussions and the heinous bloody crimes that the army continues to commit.

Such crimes, it insisted, require accountability before the competent international bodies. The League called on the international community, especially the UN Security Council and human rights organisations, to take immediate and effective action to stop this aggression and provide a system of international protection for the Palestinian people by implementing the relevant UN resolutions.

“The continuation of the Israeli occupation’s unjust war and brutal aggression against the Palestinian people, their land, their rights and sanctities, and the spilling of their blood, especially in this latest barbaric aggression in Gaza, will not affect the determination and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, or their established legitimate national rights in accordance with international law and legitimacy.”

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League officials pointed out that it holds the international community, its organisations, bodies and active states, responsible for stopping such aggression, providing protection and opening up a political horizon by lifting the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip and rebuilding what was destroyed by the series of Israeli military offensives since 2008.

“This also imposes upon the international community the need to launch a serious political process that leads to enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their rights to freedom, sovereignty and return to their land, with an independent state which has Jerusalem as its capital, as a way to achieve the desired peace to which the region aspires.”

The Arab Parliament also condemned the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the targeting of unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip, which killed and wounded dozens. The Israeli occupation authorities, said the parliament, should be held accountable for the consequences of this dangerous escalation against the Palestinians. “This is a flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter, conventions, treaties and international principles. It also violated all resolutions of international legitimacy and human rights principles.” Urgent intervention by the international community was called for.

Al-Azhar University

The authorities of Al-Azhar University in Egypt condemned the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. “Al-Azhar condemns in the strongest terms the Zionist entity’s terrorism against Gaza, killing Palestinian civilians, wounding dozens of them, and targeting their children and women,” said the renowned Islamic institution. It denounced the unreasonable and unacceptable global silence that encourages the Israeli occupation to repeat attacks against innocent Palestinians.

Al-Azhar described the policies and practices that the Israeli occupation is allowed to get away with against the Palestinians as a stain on the forehead of the international community and humanity, and another criminal record to be added to the black marks against the Zionist entity. “All Arabs and Muslims,” added Al-Azhar, “should unite in support of the Palestinians, their just cause and their legitimate struggle against Israel’s military occupation.”

Jordan’s civil society

Jordanian civil society condemned all Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Jordanian Professional Syndicates, the Jordanian Engineers Association and the Jordanian Academic Campaign to Support the Rights of the Palestinian People confirmed, in separate statements, that the Israeli occupation is trying, with its repeated attacks on the Gaza Strip, to break the will of the Palestinian people.

They called on Arab and Islamic countries to stand firmly against these attacks and to provide all forms of support to the Palestinians in their legitimate struggle to defend their rights.

The Foreign Ministry in Amman called for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and called on the international community to take urgent and effective action to stop the escalation and provide protection for the Palestinian people.

The Islamic Broadcasting Union

The Islamic Broadcasting Union strongly condemned the brutal Israeli aggression launched by the occupation forces against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in dozens being killed and wounded.

Director-General Amr Ellissy said on Saturday that this treacherous aggression confirms the continuation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their violations of international law and resolutions. He called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to stop this brutal Israeli aggression and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people, who are under fire from a brutal aggressor which violates all international norms and conventions.

The Union also extended its sincere condolences to the families of the martyrs and its wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured.