The Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, has decried that one was safe in the going Gaza war, even as he maintained that peace can be reached if Israel recognises the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
Shawesh, in a press statement, Friday in Abuja, decried the fact that as of March 6, 30,717 Palestinians had been killed and 72,156 injured, with 8,000 still missing under the rubble.
This, he said, was as the Israeli occupation force has denied rescue teams access to reach and save them.
According to the envoy: “No one is safe until everyone is safe. Peace can be reached if and only if Israel recognises the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, a fundamental and basic human right.”
He noted, “As of Monday, March 4, the Israeli army has killed 364 medical staff members and arrested 269, including hospital directors.
“They have also targeted 155 health institutions, put 32 hospitals and 53 health centers out of service, and targeted 126 ambulances. It is noted that they have detected about one million cases of infectious diseases.
“As of March 4, 16 infants have died due to severe malnutrition and drought resulting from the strict Israeli military blockade and the war of starvation policy it imposed.”
He further stated that the UN Women issued seven facts prove that the war on Gaza is also a war on women and I would like to quote the following: “An estimated 9,000 women have been reportedly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to date. This figure is likely an underestimate, as many more women are reported to be dead under the rubble.”
The envoy stated, “Every day the war in Gaza continues, at the current rate, an average of 63 women will continue to be killed. An estimated 37 mothers are killed every day, leaving their families devastated and their children with diminished protection.
“More than four out of five women, 84 per cent, report that their family eats half or less of the food they used to before the war began, with mothers and adult women being those tasked with sourcing food, yet eating last, less, and least than everyone else.”
Shawesh added that, “As of today, 12 Palestinian prisoners have been killed in the last 153 days, including Ahmad Qadeeh, a 78-year-old who was detained with his family on February 7 and subjected to torture.”
He said regarding the Gazans prisoners, according to Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, “27 Gaza detainees have died in custody at Israeli military facilities since the outbreak of the war, according to figures obtained by Haaretz.”
This, he said, meant that the death toll of Palestinian prisoners is 39 since the eruption of the current Israeli genocidal war.
“The total number of Palestinian political prisoners is 9,100, with 3,558 administrative detainees, 57 women, and 200 children as of March 5. These figures exclude detainees from Gaza,” he further stated.
Flour massacre
Speaking on flour massacre, Shawesh said: “On Thursday, February 29, Israeli forces opened heavy fire on a group of Gazans who had gathered to receive humanitarian aid on Al-Rasheed street. This resulted in the deaths of over 115 innocent Palestinians in just a few minutes.
“To make matters worse, Israeli drones recorded the massacre and broadcast it as a clear message to the world that they are above international law.”
He said the EU described firing by the Israeli soldiers against the Palestinian civilians as unjustifiable, where more than 100 civilians were killed and many others wounded when desperately trying to get food from a convoy.
According to the envoy, “The EU request for impartial international investigation on this tragic event allowing for a clear picture of the event and responsibilities. The EU stresses that it’s the Israeli responsibility to comply with the rules of international law and to protect the distribution of humanitarian aid to the civilian population.
“Stephan Dujarric, the UNSG spokesperson said “The Secretary-General is appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict in Gaza, in which more than 30,000 people have now reportedly been killed and over 70,000 injured.
“Tragically, an unknown number of people lie under the rubble. The Secretary-General condemns the incident today in northern Gaza, in which more than a hundred people were reportedly killed or injured while seeking life-saving aid.”
He further noted that the Israeli war had pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
He said that as expected, the United States vetoed a Security Council statement drafted regarding the new round of onslaught.
“This is the fifth time in a row that the United States has used its veto power to facilitate the continuation of the genocidal war against the Palestinian people during the past 153 days. Adding to that, the continuous shipment of various types of weapons that have killed innocent Palestinian people.
“We can confidently say that the United States has gone beyond complicity. The USA is a full cosponsor of the war against the Palestinian people.”
He said, “According to the Associated Press, the USA announced, “Three planes from Air Forces Central dropped 66 bundles containing about 38,000 meals into Gaza using three airplanes … The bundles were dropped in southwest Gaza.”
The envoy said, “In this connection, I would like to raise the following points: After 153 days of war, the United States supplied Israel with tens of thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians and wounding 70,000 others. This support also led to the almost complete destruction of Gaza.
“The United States of America supplied Israel with more than a ton of explosives for every meal it dropped on Gaza. In northern Gaza alone, there are 700,000 starving Palestinians, and they dropped these meals in south Gaza, which means they deliberately neglected the most urgent needs in the North. So, they implicitly aligned themselves with the declared Israeli policy of evacuating the North.
“I want to remind the US administration that a shipment of flour, financed by Americans, is still stuck at the Israeli sea port of Ashdod due to an Israeli minister’s decision. The US has done nothing to deliver it to the UNRWA, its intended recipient.
“The US airdrop cannot replace the critical role of UNRWA in supplying the Palestinian refugees with the necessary and urgent needs. It’s time to stop aligning itself with the Israeli occupation in suffocating and dismantling this UN body.
“Before the Israeli genocidal war, Gaza required 500 trucks daily. However, the war dramatically increased these needs. The current number of trucks entering Gaza is insufficient to meet the urgent needs. Additionally, considering the limited capacity of planes to carry supplies, the necessary equipment for safe airdrops, and the complex process of airdropping, it is clear that the American airdrop initiative is merely a superficial and impractical display, rather than a serious effort to address the engineered starvation policy.
“We call on the American administration to stop making these kinds of cheap, ridiculous, and empty moves. People around the world are mature and rational enough, and such a cheap ploy can not convince them.”
ICJ ruling
Speaking on Isreals defiance of ICJ ruling, he said: “Israel Defying ICJ Ruling to Prevent Genocide by Failing to Allow Adequate Humanitarian Aid to Reach Gaza,” Amnesty International accuses the occupying power, Israel, of not abiding by the ICJ provisional measures.
“In this regard, I quote, “Not only has Israel created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, but it is also displaying a callous indifference to the fate of Gaza’s population by creating conditions which the ICJ has said places them at imminent risk of genocide.
“Time and time again, Israel has failed to take the bare minimum steps humanitarians have desperately pleaded for that are clearly within its power to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” “…As the occupying power, under international law, Israel has a clear obligation to ensure the basic needs of Gaza’s population are met. Israel has not only woefully failed to provide for Gazans’ basic needs, but it has also been blocking and impeding the passage of sufficient aid into the Gaza Strip, in particular to the north which is virtually inaccessible, in a clear show of contempt for the ICJ ruling and in flagrant violation of its obligation to prevent genocide.
“…The scale and gravity of the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s relentless bombardment, destruction, and suffocating siege puts more than two million Palestinians of Gaza at risk of irreparable harm.”
