Pakistan and 16 other countries,on Saturday condemned the Israeli airstrike on the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, calling on Tel Aviv to protect civilians and medical facilities and ensure the sustained and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The deadliest single strike since Israel’s elections last month hit the surgery ward of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis early on Thursday, killing at least six Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, and wounding nearly 30 others.
The Israeli military claimed it carried out an “aerial strike to eliminate the threat they posed, after the Hamas had established a presence within the hospital complex and used it as a command centre”.
According to a joint statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO) on Saturday, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates condemned in the Israeli strike in the “strongest terms”
The statement said that strike “caused casualties among patients and medical personnel, in violation of international humanitarian law, which affords special protection to medical facilities and healthcare workers”.
It also condemned continued Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians, including strikes on tents and other sites sheltering displaced persons.
“These attacks undermine the ceasefire and efforts to restore security and stability in Gaza and are inconsistent with US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Plan,” the joint statement said.
It expressed grave concern that “continued Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid, shelter materials including tents, caravans and mobile homes, as well as medical supplies” were “deepening Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe as winter approaches”.
“Inadequate shelter and deteriorating water, sanitation and healthcare services put civilian lives at grave risk, particularly those of children and infants, who could once again die from exposure to freezing temperatures,” it said.
The statement called on Israel to heed appeals from the international community and the Board of Peace for increased aid and to fulfil immediately and in full its obligations under the Sharm El-Sheikh Agreement.
“Israel must uphold the ceasefire, protect civilians and medical facilities, and ensure the safe, sustained and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid in sufficient quantities, including shelter and early recovery supplies and equipment to restore essential infrastructure.
“It must also allow United Nations agencies and humanitarian organisations to carry out their mandates without obstruction,” the joint statement said.
These first-phase commitments were due to take effect upon signature, it added.
“Israel must implement them without further delay or additional conditions, including political and security conditions, that impede humanitarian access,” the statement said.
“Urgent humanitarian assistance must proceed independently of progress on subsequent phases,” it said.
Per the statement, the foreign ministers called on the US and the Board of Peace to “intensify their efforts to ensure Israel’s full implementation of these commitments and the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, thereby preserving the credibility of the agreements and consolidating the ceasefire”.
The foreign ministers reaffirmed their determination to work with regional and international partners to consolidate the ceasefire, implement all phases of the plan and scale up humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people, the statement concluded.
Earlier this month, the Trump’s “Board of Peace” said that Israel needed to act immediately to help war-battered Gaza cope with impending winter, saying measures ahead of deadly floods had been insufficient.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Nov 9 said he had directed the foreign ministry to pursue all possible means to urgently “escalate humanitarian assistance” to Gaza amid heavy rainfall.
Source: www.dawn.com
