Palestinians urge UN Security Council to force Israel to observe intl. humanitarian law as Gaza siege rages
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has criticized Israel’s ongoing blockade on the Gaza Strip, urging the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take all necessary measures to force the Tel Aviv regime to abide by international humanitarian law regarding the situation in the besieged enclave.
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported on Sunday that the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of obstructing the efforts to stabilize the Egypt-brokered ceasefire in Gaza by tightening the blockade and obstructing the reconstruction process in a press statement a day earlier.
The ministry also noted that more two million people in the impoverished coastal territory "are paying heavy prices due to the endless Israeli blockade which ruined their daily living."
"The Israeli blockade has led to sabotaging the lives of the Palestinian citizens and declining levels of basic services under the pressure of Israeli delay and extortion,” the ministry said, calling on the UNSC to bear responsibilities and "oblige Israel to abide by international and humanitarian laws."
Gaza has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since June 2007. The crippling siege has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the Gaza Strip.
Since 2008, Israel has waged three wars against Gaza and thousands of Gazans have been killed in each of these deadly wars.
In the latest bombardment campaign, at least 260 Palestinians, including over 60 children, were killed in a time span of 11 days that began on May 10. The Gaza-based resistance movements retaliated.
The regime was eventually forced to announce a ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, which came into force in the early hours of May 21.
In recent years, the enclave has been receiving its bare essentials through the Kerem Shalom crossing as well as two others, including one with Egypt, which is being strictly controlled by the government in Cairo.
The United Nations says the latest Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Gaza has deteriorated an already dire humanitarian situation in the impoverished enclave generated by nearly 14 years of an all-out blockade and recurrent hostilities.
The Israeli war on Gaza began after weeks of the regime’s violence against Palestinians at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem al-Quds and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the occupied city, where Israeli forces tried to force Palestinians out of their homes to build new illegal settlements.
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