The president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) condemned this Thursday the death of civilians on both sides in the conflict unleashed on Saturday by the Islamist movement Hamas against Israel and demanded an “immediate cessation of aggression” against the Palestinian people.
These words from Mahmoud Abbas are the first publicly spoken since Hamas’s attack on Israel, which is carrying out a retaliatory military campaign that has already caused the death of more than 2,600 people on both sides.
“President Abbas called for an immediate end to the aggression against the Palestinian people” and condemned “practices related to the death or abuse of civilians on both sides,” said a statement, following a meeting in Amman with King Abdullah II. from Jordan. , before a meeting, scheduled for Friday, with the head of North American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, which cites the briefing note, the ANP president sent two other appeals to the monarch: the “release of civilians, prisoners and detainees” and the end of “settler terrorism” in the occupied West Bank. .
Abbas also called for an “immediate end to total Israeli aggression” and the “provision of medical, humanitarian and relief aid”, as well as the resumption of the supply of water, electricity and fuel to the population of the Gaza Strip, which was finds itself on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.
In this sense, the Palestinian leader also called for the “urgent opening of humanitarian corridors in the Gaza Strip”, blocked and the target of constant bombing by the Israeli army.
Until now, the opening of humanitarian corridors has been rejected by Hamas, which considers that it could cause a “permanent flight” of civilians.
Israel, according to Egyptian security sources consulted by EFE, would only approve the opening of a one-way corridor.
Given the escalation of the conflict, Abbas called for the need for “political action to end the occupation and achieve peace.”
King Abdullah II warned against “adopting a policy of collective punishment” in Gaza and said Jordan was making efforts to stop the escalation and “prevent the displacement” of Gazans.
The number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip exceeded 338,000, increasing by 75,000 the number of civilians who fled their homes in Palestinian territory in a single day, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.
The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory this Saturday, called Operation “Al-Aqsa Storm”, with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.
In response to the surprise attack, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation called “Iron Swords.”
Israel declared total war and vowed to punish Hamas like never before, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared he was “at war” with the Palestinian group.
Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as a “terrorist group” by the European Union (EU), the United States and Israel.
Official data on fatalities from the conflict unleashed by the Islamist group on Saturday point to 1,300 deaths in Israel and 1,354 in the Gaza Strip, official sources from both parties indicated today.
In addition to the 1,300 deaths in Israel, and according to the latest data from the Israeli Ministry of Health, 3,268 people were hospitalized, of which 28 were in critical condition, 348 in serious condition and 581 in moderate condition.
On the Gaza side, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in addition to the deaths of 1,354 people, many of them civilians, there were 6,049 injured in different states, as well as 31 dead in the West Bank, where around 180 were also injured.
According to Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht, in addition to the death toll on both sides, around a thousand Hamas militants were killed during clashes with security forces in Israeli territory, where sporadic fighting continues, and five militants were killed on Wednesday.
Source: TSF
