UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18 (APP): Decrying overnight Israel’s ferocious strikes in Gaza that left 400 Palestinians dead, Pakistan called on the UN Security Council Tuesday to demand a halt to the genocidal war in the enclave and implementation of the 15 January ceasefire agreement.
“Israel’s aggression, its attacks, and its slaughter of the Palestinians must stop,” Ambassador Munir Akram, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 15-member Council which met in an urgent session to discuss the resumption of Israeli attacks in Gaza.
The meeting was convened by Algeria and Somalia and supported by Pakistan and some other Council members– it was originally supposed to focus on humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza and Israel’s blockade in the face of stalled ceasefire talks.
In his remarks, Ambassador Akram said that the war in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian Territory is at another “tragic milestone”.
“This war and the manner in which the Security Council and the international community respond to the atrocities and the actions that have been taken will have a lasting impact on the nature of the world order, which we and succeeding generations inherit,” he stated, noting the conflict’s death toll and impact on civilians.
Over 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza, 150,000 injured, and two-thirds of them have been women and children, he said, highlighting the attack on hospitals, schools, mosques, civilian centers.
“Every principle, every article of international law and international humanitarian law has been blatantly violated with impunity, defying the resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” he added.
Ambassador Akram warned that unless the international community responds with justice to what has happened and is happening in the region, “our world order is likely to regress into the barbarism from which the UN Charter was supposed to rescue us.”
The Pakistani envoy said that the glimmer of hope for peace generated by the ceasefire and the Arab peace plan was obviously not to the liking of the extremist leaders who rule Israel today, as they see their survival in the continuation of the war.
“But is this in the interest of the hostages? Is this in the interest of the Israeli people? Is this in the interest of the Palestinians? And is this in the interest of world order? I think the answer is obvious.”
The first tactic to erode the ceasefire agreement, he said, was the imposition of the humanitarian blockade, an attempt to extort concessions beyond the ceasefire agreement blocking trucks, cutting off electricity and water, restricting NGOs, preventing access for Muslims to access the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.
“These are all tactics of the oppressor, “Ambassador Akram said. “And now, they have escalated to blatantly violate the ceasefire and resume attacks against the helpless Palestinians in Gaza who were just returning to rebuild their homes.”
The Pakistani envoy called for full implementation of all phases of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including permanent and comprehensive cessation of Israeli hostilities, return of displaced persons to their homes, withdrawal of Israeli forces, opening all crossings, adequate humanitarian access to all parts of the Gaza Strip, and a comprehensive reconstruction plan for Gaza and humanitarian assistance resumed.
According to Amnesty International, “Israel’s decision to block humanitarian aid to Gaza is a war crime and amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population. It’s a continuation of the policy to impose on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. This is genocide.”
Also, the Pakistani envoy said, Israeli aggression in the West Bank must end.
“We must ensure the revival of a credible and irreversible political process towards a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. This is the only viable path to durable peace,” Ambassador Akram added.
APP/ift