Israel onslaught on Gaza amounts to ‘genocide’, Iraq Prime Minister says

Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammed Shia Al-Sudani, on Wednesday said Israel’s ongoing onslaught on the Gaza Strip is tantamount to “genocide”, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Iraqi Premier met in Baghdad with Uzra Zeya, US Under-Secretary of State for civilian security, democracy and human rights.

“What is happening in Gaza is unprecedented. It is a blatant violation of human rights, and amounts to genocide,” Al-Sudani said during the meeting, as cited by a statement issued by his office.

He said most of the victims in Gaza are women and children, calling for exerting more efforts to halt the Israeli war against the Palestinians.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas last 7 October, which killed some 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

More than 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,400 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 per cent of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

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