Gaza conflict 'far beyond mutual fighting governed by war laws': Turkiye Parliament Speaker

The Gaza conflict is “far beyond a mutual fighting governed by war laws”, said the Turkish Parliament Speaker, as he hosted his Montenegrin counterpart at the Parliament on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

This is not a war or anything, it is far beyond a mutual fighting governed by the law of war

said Numan Kurtulmus, who, with Andrija Mandic, chaired a meeting with their delegations, after a one-on-one meeting with Montenegro’s Parliament Speaker in the capital, Ankara.

“We are going through a time, when a State, with the power it receives from some countries that support it, subjects women, children, elderly and young people to genocide,” Kurtulmus said further.

He decried silence of world States to Israeli attacks in Gaza, however said it is “promising” to see widespread public support for Palestinians, referring to protests worldwide, particularly in the Western states.

UN Secretary-General Guterres’s using his authority to call the UN Security Council to duty should be seen as one of the last cries and screams on behalf of humanity

he added.

On Wednesday, UN chief, Antonio Guterres, invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since he became the organisation’s top official in 2017, as he urged the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza.

Guterres said in a letter to the Council: “I urge the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. “This is urgent.”

Kurtulmus said Guterres’ call for the UN Security Council is a “crucial plea” for humanity.

The absence of an international mechanism and unconditional support from certain Western countries, notably the US, contributes to the Gaza crisis, he added.

READ: UN expert urges end of Israel ‘unrelenting war’ on Gaza health care system