Riyaz ul Khaliq
26 July 2024•Update: 26 July 2024
ISTANBUL
Australia, Canada, and New Zealand on Friday called for an "urgent" cease-fire in Gaza, even as the Israeli war on the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave runs through the 10th month.
In a joint statement, the three nations said the situation in Gaza is “catastrophic.”
“The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue,” it said.
Criticizing Palestinian resistance group Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, the statement said Israel “must listen to the concerns of the international community.”
“An immediate ceasefire is needed desperately. Civilians must be protected, and a sustained increase in the flow of assistance throughout Gaza is needed to address the humanitarian situation,” said the statement.
“The protection of civilians is paramount and a requirement under international humanitarian law,” it said, adding that Hamas “must lay down its arms and release all hostages.”
However, the three nations claimed: “We see no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.”
The statement came after 14 Palestinian groups, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, signed the Beijing Declaration on Tuesday where they agreed to form an interim national government to administer the post-war Gaza.
About the escalation on the border with Lebanon, the statement said: “Further hostilities put tens of thousands of civilians in Lebanon and Israel at risk.”
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
