The Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported on Thursday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, considered “those Israeli calls as further perpetration of genocide and displacement crimes, and official admissions of the occupation’s intentions to completely destroy the Gaza Strip and turn it into uninhabitable land, clearly revealing plans to displace its residents.” The ministry condemned in its statement “the Israeli occupation’s deepening of the genocide crime and the use of starvation as a weapon in the war on the Gaza Strip,” stressing that the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the State of Palestine according to international law and international legitimacy resolutions.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry reiterated its rejection of “all those calls treating the strip as merely barren land as if it were up for sale or piracy in a colonial racist auction.” It warned of the dangers of international complacency and failure to stop these crimes and protect Palestinian civilians, calling for swift intervention to force the Israeli government to stop its aggression and save what remains of the global system’s credibility and those implementing its charters and laws.
Israel launched a massive military operation in Gaza City early Tuesday, including a ground incursion and heavy bombing, stating that the goal of the operation is to control Gaza and eliminate the “Hamas” movement. Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz stated on the “X” platform earlier that “Gaza is burning,” adding that the Israeli army “is striking terrorism infrastructure with an iron fist, and its soldiers are fighting bravely to create conditions for the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent or retreat – until the mission is complete.”
The Israeli army issued warnings, amid warnings from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that there is no safe haven for the displaced from the city. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring observatory, announced on August 22 that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are experiencing famine, likely to spread to other parts of the Gaza Strip shortly, while Israel described this report as “false and flawed.”
On March 2, Israel closed Gaza crossings to the entry of humanitarian, relief, and medical aid into the strip, causing unprecedented deterioration in humanitarian conditions, prompting warnings that malnutrition in the Gaza Strip has reached “alarming levels.” Israel resumed its bombing of the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a nearly two-month halt, specifically since the ceasefire agreement with the “Hamas” movement came into effect on January 19, following stalled talks to extend the first phase of the agreement or transition to its second phase.
