The Palestinian National Council (PNC) has called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to include Israel on the list of “countries of shame” and to declare the Gaza Strip a disaster zone.
In a press statement, the PNC urged the international community not to apply double standards, and for justice to be for all peoples, regardless of race, religion, and colour.
“We call on the people of the world and civil society organisations to intensify solidarity actions and put pressure on their governments in order to take urgent action to stop the aggression and war of extermination in the Gaza Strip, and all the crimes of the occupation in the West Bank,” the statement said.
It also stressed the need for judicial institutions to act in order to activate international law to prevent Israeli leaders from escaping accountability.
World Health Organization Chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also reiterated his call for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel’s assault continues to take a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians.
“The ceasefire in Gaza is long overdue…people have died – 70 percent women and children. 8,000 missing. 64,000 injured. 1.7 million displaced. Sick not getting services. Outbreaks and hunger spreading. Health system on its knees,” he said in a social media post on Thursday.
He added, “The solution exists. It’s only the will that is required. Let’s choose peace.”
The ministry’s spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said that 25,900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, and 64,110 have been injured.
He added that Israel has carried out 21 mass killings in the past 24 hours, killing 200 and injuring 370.
Al-Qudra added that only limited assistance is reaching Gaza and much of it does not match the needs of the health sector in the territory “during this severe emergency.”
“We call on all the international parties to revise the medical aid and ensure that it firs our declared needs for the emergency divisions, intensive care, operation rooms … chronic diseases and other basic necessities,” al-Qudra said.
He also called for allowing 7,000 patients to leave Gaza and received the care they need to save their lives.
Israeli Assurances “Not Followed Up“
Meanwhile, Thomas White, the Affairs Director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), told a news agency that the organisation is in constant contact with Israeli authorities regarding facilities sheltering displaced people but Israeli assurances that they will be protected “are not followed up.”
He made the comments in response to an Israeli tank fire that slammed into a UN shelter on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people.
“This is not an isolated incident. This is happening all across Khan Younis and has been a pattern in other parts of Gaza. There’s been a disproportionate toll on the civilian population as fighting is coming to these areas,” White said.
“So, on the one hand, we’re getting assurances that civilians will be protected, but then civilians are losing their lives and being injured in the course of these hostilities,” he added.
The United Nations refugee agency updated the death toll after Israeli tank fire struck the Training Centre in Khan Younis on Wednesday, saying that at least 13 people were killed.
The organisation said that at least 43,000 displaced Palestinians are registered in this “massively overcrowded” UNRWA shelter.
It added, “All of them now find themselves at the epicentre of the war in the Gaza Strip.”
READ ALSO: Surge in Ghana’s Secondary Bond Market Trading Signals Market Dynamics
