Pakistan condemns ‘genocide in Gaza’

ISLAMABAD/ DOHA: Pakistan Sunday denounced the relentless bombardment and complete blockade of Gaza by Israeli forces, equating the unfolding humanitarian crisis with the genocide of Palestinians.

“We also condemn the siege of Gaza which is very unfortunate [...] that they have no water, health facility and food, which is creating a major humanitarian crisis that can be equated with genocide,” caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said.

He was addressing the media at the Foreign Office here.

The statement comes amid worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza with a complete blockade imposed by Israel in response to a surprise Hamas attack on Israeli cities. Israel has warned around 1.1 million Gazans living in the north of the Palestinian territory to flee to the south ahead of a ground incursion which the military has indicated will focus on Gaza City – the base of the leadership of Hamas group.

Health officials in Gaza have reported that Israel’s airstrikes have led to over 2,200 casualties, with a significant proportion being civilians.

“[…] this is genocide being committed by Israel against the poor people of Palestine. There is no doubt that Israel has committed aggression,” the foreign minister said while referring to the situation in the besieged territory.

Jilani also urged Israel to respect the international law and the UN resolutions on Palestine, which recognised their right to self-determination.

The foreign minister said the ongoing Hamas-Israel war was a result of seven decades of illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israeli forces.

“Any attempt to equate Israel that is aggressor with that of Palestinian struggle is unacceptable for Pakistan. Pakistan would demand that Palestinian right to self-determination must be respected,” he added.

The foreign minister said the occupied Palestinian territories must be vacated in line with the UN resolutions on a two-state solution. “A separate state status should be accepted not only by Israel but also by the international community with pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. This is a consistent position of Pakistan.”

He said Pakistan was also in touch with the UN and international aid agencies to provide immediate humanitarian aid for the besieged people of Gaza.

Meanwhile, Iran on Sunday warned that any Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip could expand the scope of the conflict elsewhere in the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, as Israeli troops massed on the border with Gaza.” 

No one can guarantee the control of the situation and the non-expansion of the conflicts,” he said, according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement. 

“Those who are interested in preventing the scope of war and crisis from expanding, need to prevent the current barbaric attacks... against citizens and civilians in Gaza,” he added.

Amir-Abdollahian also criticised the United States, which has given its unequivocal backing to Israel since the October 7 attacks by Hamas fighters.

Sunday’s Iranian foreign ministry statement said Amir-Abdollahian had met high-ranking Hamas officials in Beirut and Doha who described “the issue of civilian prisoners as a priority” and would “take the necessary measures”.

Amir-Abdollahian also met in Beirut with Tor Wennesland, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“All of the Security Council meetings have been to discuss diplomatic efforts to release hostages, secure humanitarian access and prevent a spillover of the conflict to the wider region. This includes the Special Coordinator, Tor Wennesland’s recent meetings in Lebanon,” Dujarric said.

In Washington, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the United States feared an escalation of war, and the prospect of Iran becoming “directly engaged”.

Speaking on CBS, Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battlefront on the Israel-Lebanon border and added, “We can’t rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way. We have to prepare for every possible contingency.”

“That is a risk and that’s a risk that we have been mindful of since the start,” Sullivan said of the prospect of Iran getting involved in the war.

Also, the US defense secretary stated the US had ordered a second carrier strike group and air force fighter jets to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to demonstrate its firm support for Israel, which was preparing for a ground assault on Gaza.

The USS Dwight D Eisenhower strike group will now join the USS Gerald R Ford, the first carrier strike group that arrived in Israel last week.

Additionally, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin disclosed that the warships were a representation of the US commitment to maintaining Israel’s security rather than being involved in Israel’s operations or the combat in Gaza.

The movements are “part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas’s attack on Israel,” Austin said in the statement, CNN reported.

In a call with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin emphasised the importance of adhering to the laws of war, including obligations to protect civilians, and addressed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Moreover, as the Israel-Gaza war escalates, US President Joe Biden called Netanyahu and, while reiterating “unwavering” support for Israel, discussed international coordination to ensure innocent civilians have access to water, food and medical care.

The White House stated that the leaders discussed US coordination with international partners, such as the UN, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, to ensure that innocent civilians in the region have access to essential necessities like water, food and medical care.

Biden also spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who stressed the urgent need to allow urgent humanitarian aid corridors in Gaza.

During the conversation, Biden condemned Hamas’s actions, characterising them as a brutal attack on Israel and expressed his belief that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people’s desire for dignity and self-determination.

Furthermore, President Biden pledged “full support” to the Palestinian Authority in its efforts to provide humanitarian aid, particularly to those in Gaza.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a crisis tour of the Middle East, met Sunday with the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, which has put on hold normalisation with Israel. The top US diplomat began meeting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at his palace in Riyadh just after 7:30 am (0430 GMT), a US official said.

Binken met then-Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, where he received a blunt assessment from Sisi of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack that killed 1,300 people. “The (Israeli) reaction went beyond the right to self-defence, turning into collective punishment for 2.3 million people in Gaza,” Sisi told Blinken in televised remarks.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi headed a national security council meeting Sunday on the “military escalation in Gaza”, said a statement from his spokesman.

Meanwhile, Egypt said it plans to host a summit on “the future of the Palestinian cause”. Egypt controls the Rafah border crossing, the only passage in and out of the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel, which has been closed since Tuesday after three Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian side.

Palestinians and foreigners have been unable to flee, and aid trucks bound for Gaza have been waiting in El Arish, 50 kilometres away.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia pressed for an “immediate ceasefire”. Russia said it had asked the UN Security Council to vote on Monday on its ceasefire resolution.

Meanwhile, at the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the president of the current session of the Islamic Summit, the Executive Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene in an extraordinary and urgent ministerial-level meeting next Wednesday in Jeddah.

The meeting will address the military escalation in Gaza and its surroundings as well as the deteriorating conditions that endanger the lives of civilians and the overall security and stability of the region.

Meanwhile, thousands marched through the streets of Amsterdam Sunday in a pro-Palestinian demonstration. The protesters turned the central Amsterdam square into a sea of Palestinian flags and placards reading: “Free Palestine”, “Stop the War” and “Stop the attack on Gaza”, according to AFP reporters at the scene.

Three planes flew overhead trailing messages “Love Hummus, not Hamas”, “Make falafel, not war” and “Shalom, Salam”, the word “peace” in Hebrew and Arabic respectively. Similar marches took place over the weekend in major Western capitals, including Washington, London and Geneva.

On Saturday, tens of thousands rallied across Britain in support of Palestinians in demonstrations that passed off largely peacefully amid a large police presence.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops prepared for a ground assault on the region.

Prior to carrying out a ground assault, Israel ordered over one million Palestinians in the northern region of Gaza to evacuate and relocate to the south.

As a result, humanitarian organisations have expressed deep concerns over the impending crisis that may ensue. More than 1,300 people have been killed as a result in Israel. Health officials in Gaza have reported that Israel’s response has led to over 2,200 casualties, with a significant proportion being civilians.

Alarm has grown over the fate of Palestinian civilians in blockaded and besieged Gaza – one of the world’s most densely populated areas, home to 2.4 million — if it becomes the scene of intense urban combat and house-to-house fighting.

Aid agencies have said forcing Gazans to move is impossible while the war rages.

But with food, water, fuel and medical supplies running low because of an Israeli blockade, aid agencies are warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

International aid agencies, including the UN and Red Cross, plus several foreign diplomats are concerned about the feasibility of the evacuation plan.

“We fear an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” said Ivan Karakashian, of the Norwegian Refugee Council. More than 423,000 Palestinians have already left their homes, and 5,540 homes have been destroyed, according to the United Nations.

Israel, which has likened last week’s attacks to those on September 11, 2001, in the United States, has fired thousands of missiles at northern Gaza.

One air strike martyred Ali Qadi, described as “a company commander of the Hamas Nukhba commando force” involved in the unprecedented attack, the army said.

“Localised” raids have also taken place, as Israeli troops encircle the Gaza Strip, said army spokesperson Jonathan Conricus. “We will likely evolve into additional significant combat operations,” he added. “When we do so, remember how this started... all of this is Hamas-made.”

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Saturday night warned that the army “has very large forces in the north.”

“Whoever reaches the fence to infiltrate Israel, will die,” he said in televised remarks.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, while clashes in the occupied West Bank have martyred 53 Palestinians in the past week.

A potential Israeli ground invasion has also increased fears for the safety of 150 hostages, including foreigners, that Israel said Hamas seized during its deadly rampage.

Also, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on its website: “As of October 14, in the first eight days of fighting, at least 12 journalists were killed, two were missing and eight injured.”

“Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict in the face of a ground assault by Israeli troops, devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, and extensive power outages,” the CPJ said.

“In the first eight days of the conflict, 10 Palestinian journalists have been confirmed dead; one Israeli journalist has been confirmed killed, and one reported missing,” the CPJ continued. “On October 13, a Beirut-based journalist was killed during a shelling attack in southern Lebanon that wounded six others.”

“CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said on their website. “Journalists are making great sacrifices across the region covering this important conflict. Measures to ensure their safety must be taken by all parties to stop this deadly and heavy toll.”

Meanwhile, a controversial move by the US news network MSNBC has come under scrutiny in the midst of escalating tensions in the Gaza Strip. The network has suspended the shows of three Muslim anchors, Mehdi Hasan, Ayman Mohieddine, and Ali Velshi, leading to a flurry of discussions and concerns.

While MSNBC vehemently denies any sidelining of Hasan and Mohieddine, two sources closely involved with the network’s decision have confirmed the suspension of these Muslim anchors’ shows.

This development has sparked a debate, raising questions about potential religious targeting.

Critics have drawn parallels to the post-9/11 era, characterized by the “you are either with us or against us” rhetoric. They argue that this controversy transcends political differences and instead targets anchors based on their religious faith.

A source closely associated with the network stated, “There is a lot of uncertainty about what happens next. But the mood is very similar to what had happened post-9/11 with the whole ‘you are either with us or against us’ argument.”

As of now, MSNBC has refrained from issuing an official comment regarding the suspension. The future of these anchors at the network remains uncertain, leaving room for speculation about the network’s motivations.

The situation has triggered a broader discussion about media ethics and the responsibility of news networks to deliver fair and impartial coverage, regardless of the personal backgrounds of their anchors.