Dar calls for immediate ceasefire, unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Strongly condemning the use of hunger and starvation as a weapon of war by the Israeli forces, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday urged the international community to take action to stop this collective punishment unleashed on the Palestinians and help ensuring immediate ceasefire and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Recent attacks by Israeli settlers on aid convoys as well as seizure of Rafah border crossing with Egypt amounts to deliberate blocking of humanitarian supplies with a clear intent to starve the civilian population,” the deputy prime minister said while addressing the Extraordinary Meeting of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers in Istanbul, the official news agency reported.

He said the world was witnessing indiscriminate killings of civilians with a disproportionately large number of women and children. “Israeli forces are systematically bombing hospitals and vital infrastructure to target the very existence of Palestinians.”

According to the World Health Organization, he said, only 12 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were functional, that too barley. More strikingly, 84 percent of all health facilities are either destroyed or damaged, almost all certainly by design.

Israel’s incessant and brutal aggression is a blatant attempt to wipe out the Palestinian population, Dar said, adding that the world was witnessing one of the worst massacres of our time being perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces, in total disregard of the international law, world opinion and ICJ orders.

The deputy PM demanded that the order of the International Court of Justice directing Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah must be implemented without delay. “International community must act to halt the killing and arrest humanitarian suffering.”

Pakistan, he said, had consistently supported just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the occupied Palestinian territories based on international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. “We call for the total withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories, restitution of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right of return to Palestine, and the establishment of an independent homeland for the Palestinians with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”

Pakistan believes that there can be no lasting peace in the Middle East without a comprehensive resolution of all outstanding Arab-Israeli disputes, Dar said, adding that the establishment of a sovereign, viable and contiguous Palestinian state was an absolutely prerequisite for regional peace and stability.

The D-8 must use its political as well as economic leverage at all the relevant international fora to end the suffering of the Palestinians people, he stressed.

“Through the D-8 platform we may coordinate humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza, and also play a role in the rebuilding efforts once the aggression ends,” he said, adding that this was important “if we want Palestinians to rebuild their lives and livelihood, and not let Israel succeed in its nefarious design of, if not eliminating them, then crippling them permanently”.

He added that this timely gathering of foreign ministers of eight important Muslim countries must send a strong message of support to the Palestinian people. “It must also lead the call, and campaign for concerted and immediate international action to halt Israeli aggression and open all channels of humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza.”

“Pakistan, on its part, has already sent eight relief consignments for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. The magnitude of devastation caused by disproportionate and incessant Israeli aggression, however, is unparalleled. It, accordingly, demands extraordinary international effort geared to restoration and rehabilitation of Gaza. Let’s come together and act now in lending meaningful support to our Palestinian brethren,” the deputy prime minister concluded.