ANKARA 

Malaysia's top diplomat on Saturday strongly condemned the continued Israeli assault on Gaza, describing it as “relentless genocide and ethnic cleansing,” and urging the international community to take immediate action to halt the humanitarian catastrophe.

In a statement, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan expressed grave concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave, highlighting widespread shortages of food, clean water, medicine, and fuel due to Israel’s ongoing blockade.

"We are deeply alarmed by the unfolding humanitarian crisis that the world has witnessed silently for the past 22 months," he said, adding that "starvation and malnutrition already affecting thousands of civilians, particularly children."

Malaysia also condemned the killings of more than 1,300 Palestinians since late May 2025 while they waited for aid from the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, calling the acts "preposterous" and demanding an international investigation.

He welcomed global efforts at the recent New York peace conference to revive the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and called for practical, action-oriented steps toward Palestinian statehood.

"Malaysia reiterates in the strongest terms that the Israeli Zionist regime must stop the killings, cease all attempts at forced displacement of Palestinians, and immediately end all blockade of humanitarian access and ensure unimpeded access of humanitarian aid," he added.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza for 18 years, and since March 2 has shut down all crossings, worsening humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Its army has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the territory since October 2023.

Deaths from malnutrition and starvation have climbed in recent weeks, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitor, has warned that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid