This Thursday, Egypt condemned “the international silence on Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law” on Palestinian territory, following the conflict that began on October 7 with Hamas’ surprise attack on Israeli territory.
“What the Israeli government is doing goes far beyond the right of self-defense,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri, lamenting the existence of an “imbalance in international consciousness.”
Choucki was speaking at a humanitarian conference on Gaza hosted by Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron, opening proceedings, called for initiatives toward a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas.
“We must immediately work to protect civilians. To do this we need a very quick humanitarian pause and we must move towards a ceasefire. This must become possible,” the French head of state declared.
Macron stressed that it is “absolutely essential” to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip and that there can be no “double standards” in protecting human lives.
“This is non-negotiable,” he stressed.
The President of France reiterated that Israel has “the right to defend itself and the duty to protect its own people,” but also stated that the Israeli government has “an eminent responsibility […] to respect the law and protect citizens.”
“The fight against terrorism can never be conducted without rules,” he continued, recalling that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “deteriorating day by day.”
The aim of the conference taking place today in Paris is “to identify people’s needs in terms of funds and assistance”.
The conference, hastily announced last week, was attended mainly by representatives of the ‘second echelon’, as defined by the France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
The Palestinian Authority sent its prime minister and Egypt, which controls the only border crossing into Gaza at Rafah, which is not in Israeli hands, sent, AFP pointed out, a “simple” ministerial delegation led by Choukri.
The Israeli government was informed of the initiative, but was not represented at the Élysée.
“We know that the situation of civilians in the Gaza Strip is not easy,” said Colonel Moshe Tetro, in Gaza today responsible for the Israeli Defense Ministry body that monitors civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, but denied existence of a humanitarian crisis.
Humanitarian organizations, for their part, represented in Paris, have unanimously denounced the impossibility of providing aid as long as the bombings in Gaza continue.
At the conference, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also called for aid to be coordinated and organized in a practical way so that it can reach the recipient.
“We need a humanitarian ceasefire. We must silence the guns for humanitarian purposes,” said Martin Griffiths, UN Humanitarian Affairs Officer.
“We cannot wait another minute for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and the lifting of the siege that is a collective punishment for a million children,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Council for Refugees (NRC). ).
“The law is being broken by both parties before our eyes,” he pointed out.
Demands for “pauses,” “ceasefires,” or “ceasefires” have multiplied in recent weeks to facilitate access to aid and the release of more than 240 hostages captured by Hamas in Israeli territory.
But on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again ruled out a ceasefire without the release of the hostages. He said he wanted to “rule out idle rumors of any kind.”
A source close to Hamas in Gaza told AFP that Qatar brokered the release of 12 hostages, including six Americans, in exchange for “a three-day humanitarian truce.”
“How many Palestinians must be killed before the war can end? Is it enough to kill six children and four women every hour?” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh protested, calling for an “end to double standards.”
“The United Nations has never recorded so many deaths in a conflict in such a short time,” Philippe Lazzarini, director of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said on Thursday, referring to nearly a hundred deaths in its ranks. .
According to Eliseu, there will be no common statement at the end of the conference so as not to fall into an endless debate “about one word or another”.
The Palestinian territory has been under Israeli blockade since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Retaliatory attacks by Israel, which vowed to destroy Hamas, have killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian movement that rules the enclave.
Source: DN
