F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Munir Akram, asked Israel to stop its ongoing “genocide” of Palestinian people and stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.
Akram’s comments came at a UN meeting, wherein UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths, fresh from the war-torn region, and Lynn Hastings, deputy special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, were among those who briefed member states about latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Both UN officials called for humanitarian cease-fires to ensure a safe delivery of food, fuel and other essential items to the people in Gaza.
In his remarks, the Pakistani envoy said the Israelis were committing the “modern genocide” against the Palestinians and “we must call it for what it is.”
“We cannot mince our words,” Ambassador Akram said during the briefing, titled ‘Humanitarian Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.’
“We have to tell the Israelis: stop the genocide,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run APP news agency.
Since a shock Hamas attack on October 7, which Israeli officials say has killed 1,400 people, Israel has bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip. The health ministry in Gaza says more than 9,480 Gazans, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli strikes and the intensifying ground campaign.
In this regard, Akram called for respecting and adhering to the international humanitarian law that forbade attacks on civilians and civilian objects.
“Let us, as the international community, adhere to what the General Assembly has said. Let us adhere to what the international humanitarian law says,” the Pakistani envoy said.
“This is what we expect from all those who are leading the United Nations, all those who are speaking for the conscience of the international community.”
He said the deadly Israeli strikes against schools, hospitals and civilian sites in Gaza on the pretext that there were “military targets” in those facilities were a gross violation of international law and norms as well as a “collective punishment” of a helpless people.
Courtesy: arabnews
