Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of waging a “war on the Palestinian existence” in Gaza on Wednesday. He said, “The unjust, aggressive war that we are facing is a war against the Palestinian existence and the Palestinian national identity, the identity of the land and the identity of the people.”
He added: “We are confronting together a barbaric war of aggression and an open war of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, our eternal capital.”
On the same day, the Israeli occupation forces raided the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, the largest hospital in the besieged Strip, which shelters thousands of people displaced by the Israeli aggression on the cities of the Strip. This happened despite international appeals not to attack the hospital.
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Israeli occupation forces raid on Al-Shifa Hospital as a violation of international humanitarian law, especially the Geneva Convention. It held Israel responsible for the safety of civilians and medical staff working in the hospital.
The ministry emphasized that “the dangerous situation in Gaza requires the UN Security Council to bear its legal responsibility and the international community to bear its moral responsibilities and work to pressure Israel, the occupying power, to stop its ongoing aggression, war, and targeting of civilians, especially women, and children, which cannot be justified by any reason or excuse.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that his country would continue to “isolate Israel internationally and provide all forms of support to Palestine.” He said that Israel would be known as a “cursed terrorist state” everywhere in the world. He added, “We will continue to isolate Israel in the international arena while providing all forms of humanitarian support to Palestine in a dual plan.”
He also said that Turkey would continue “to take steps to ensure that Israeli political and military leaders are tried before international courts after they brutally killed the oppressed people of Gaza.” He claimed that “Israel is implementing a strategy of destruction of Gaza City and its residents. I say it frankly and with a calm heart: Israel is a terrorist state.”
In addition, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on Israel to end the “random killing” in Gaza. He reiterated his support for Israel’s “response to the terrorist attack” carried out by Hamas on October 7, and promised that his new government “would work in Europe and Spain to recognize the Palestinian state.”
The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, denounced the “horrific” scenes she witnessed during a visit to the Gaza Strip as part of the Israeli aggression on Gaza. She called for “this horror to stop.”
Russell, who visited the southern Gaza Strip, said: “What I saw and heard was heart-breaking. They have endured bombing, loss, and repeated displacement. Inside the Gaza Strip, there is no safe place for Gaza’s million children to take refuge.” She added, “Only the parties to the conflict can truly stop this horror.”
