The Palestinian Authority yesterday lambasted the Israeli government’s decision to expand its military operations in Gaza, calling on the international community to push for the entry of more aid into the Strip.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli government’s moves were “an unprecedented challenge and provocation to the international will to achieve peace and stability.”
He went on to urge the “international community, led by the UN Security Council, to urgently compel the occupying state to cease its aggression, allow the entry of aid, and work diligently to enable the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip.”
The PA – conceived as a first step towards a Palestinian state – exercises limited administration over parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The territory is home to about three million Palestinians, as well as around half a million Israelis living in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The PA, however, does not have a presence in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades.
Early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of criticism across the globe.
Despite the backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant over the decision.
In a post on social media late Friday, Netanyahu said “we are not going to occupy Gaza – we are going to free Gaza from Hamas.”
The prime minister faces mounting pressure to secure a ceasefire to bring Gaza’s more than 2m people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian fighters.
A statement issued yesterday by the foreign ministers of Italy, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the UK took aim at the decision to occupy Gaza City.
“This will exacerbate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of hostages, and increase the risk of a mass exodus of civilians,” they said.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the UN says are reliable.
Russia condemns and rejects Israel’s plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“The implementation of such decisions and plans, which provoke condemnation and rejection, is fraught with the risk of exacerbating the already extremely dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which has all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe,” the ministry said in a statement.
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