We strongly condemn and protest the Israel regime’s military actions in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The conflict in Gaza is at another critical juncture.
Israeli forces have expanded military operations, targeting residential towers, hospitals and public facilities across Rafah with F-16 aircraft and attack drones. Some 110,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since Israel began advancing troops towards the east of Rafah and intensifying attacks on the city on Monday.
The Bangladesh Post on Saturday ran a story headlined “Over one lakh Palestinians flee as Israel heavily pounds Rafah” detailing the latest humanitarian crisis across the Gaza Strip. Heavy fighting was underway in Gaza’s southern Rafah as Hamas fighters fire rockets and mortars and detonate explosive devices with Israeli troops and tanks pushing deeper into the city till filing of this editorial Saturday.
This is cruel, monstrous and barbaric. This military action now Israel carrying out is one of the deadliest attacks on Palestinians in decades. The mass killing across the Gaza Strip has already spurred widespread international condemnation and protests before Israeli embassies in several countries in the world.
Besides, protests by university students demanding end of ties with Israel over the Gaza war spread across the world including USA, Western Europe, Bangladesh. Several crore of people continued protesting in different countries across the globe over the deadly strike on a Gaza hospital. It is a ‘despicable crime’.
The Israeli advance has also cut off access to the nearby European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, where critical patients were being referred for surgery, as well as the nearby Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings. Bangladesh is a peace-loving nation which does not want war. So, the peace-loving people of the country do not want to see killing of civilians especially women, innocent children and elderly people.
The
conflict in Gaza is at another
critical juncture
Targeting medical and civilian facilities is a war crime. This aggression must stop. This crime has exceeded all limits, and we are calling on all countries of the world and the great powers in particular, to put an end to these crimes and to open corridors to bring humanitarian aid into the besieged sector.
The international community and relevant agencies must reject such inhuman actions and engage in efforts collectively to end this mindless and barbaric bloodshed in Palestine. The women and children are the worst sufferers of the war.
Bangladesh had the experience of the dreadfulness of the war. As conflict continues to ravage Gaza, pregnant women in the enclave are facing unprecedented challenges. The recent Israeli airstrikes have left expectant mothers fearing for the safety of their unborn children and their own lives, according to international news agencies.
At least 34,904 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Hamas group. Besides, 77,229 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
The world has been witnessing the war ---firstly the Russia-Ukraine war and now Israeli attack on the Palestine. The world leaders should take immediate step to ‘stop this tragedy immediately’. Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is constantly calling upon the global leaders to stop the war, saying the women and children are the worst sufferers of the war.
The game of arms and the arms competition must stop. We are accusing Israel of a ‘war crime’. There are no words to fully express our condemnation of Israel’s strike at hospital. An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes.
It can’t be tolerated at all in this civilised world that the Israel will continue killing Palestinians in many ways. No argument can justify the disruption of prayer by the worshippers and breach of international humanitarian laws and human rights standard.
