Brutal Israeli military onslaught has once again turned Gaza into a pool of blood. Israeli forces pounded central Gaza afresh on Sunday, barely a day after killing 274 Palestinians during a hostage rescue raid. IDF tanks have reportedly advanced deeper into areas of Rafah in a bid to seal-off a part of the southern city.
However, coupled with Palestinians we too remain shell-shocked over Saturdays death toll. It is the worst ever during a 24-hour period of the Gaza war raging for months and including many women and children. Videos aired from Gaza taken in the aftermath of the military raid revealed horrific scenes of deaths and destruction.
While another bloody chapter is unfolding in Palestine, return of Israeli hostages to their families after months have resulted in celebration in Israel and USA. US President Joe Biden has even openly welcomed reported rescue and release of the hostages.
We, however, strongly condemn the deadly military operation continuing inside Gaza.
Concurrently, we believe that releasing of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners could have been conducted in a much peaceful manner without unnecessary bloodshed. Even if a single Israeli hostage would have been freed at the cost of 80 Palestinian prisoners, it would have been a million times better than losses of hundreds of innocent lives.
What is awfully disturbing is that despite repeated international warnings, Israeli armed forces continue to carry out ruthless military operations in Rafah.
The question automatically arises, what is the point of issuing these hollow and meaningless warnings, if they are not taken into consideration by Israel? And thats not all - European Unions recent Condemnation in the strongest term will be meaningless, unless it holds Israel accountable for the Rafah carnage.
Over 8 months into the Israel- Hamas war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
And it is all happening while Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah - where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
Israels ensuing air and ground assaults in Gaza has killed at least 37,084 Palestinians since last October. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory confirmed it in a latest update on Sunday. The ministry also added in the update that thousands more are feared dead and to be buried under the rubble.
As penned many times before, we urge the international community to wake to their senses, and stop this avoidable and unwarranted blood bath.
Death of one more innocent Palestinian will be far too many.
We are deeply saddened.
