Dirco calls on Israel to cease ‘genocidal campaign against Palestinians’

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has called on Israel to cease its “genocidal campaign against the Palestinians and open the water taps, provide food for civilians, electricity and fuel for the ambulances and hospitals”.

The call comes after the bombing of the al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which Dirco said was “the most blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law”.

The blast ripped through a Gaza hospital killing more than 1 000 people, sparking global condemnation and violent protests in several Muslim nations.

The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) denied the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) was behind the attacks at the Al-Ahli Hospital bombing.

The federation said this came amid “a number of false statements, inaccurate reports and “misguided claims.”

Condemnation

Dirco condemned the killing of civilians in Palestine and Israel.

“We call on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Ahmad Khan to immediately signal his intent to investigate this and other war crimes, and the crime of genocide in this conflict, and to include in his investigation the liability of those aiding and abetting these crimes.”

It said the targeting of civilians in armed conflicts was “in violation of International Humanitarian Law and Geneva Conventions”.

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Gaza crisis

Dirco added that the situation in Gaza, especially in hospitals was dire.

“Doctors are operating without anaesthetics and do not have the medical equipment or supplies to treat the victims. The suffering of children and their parents is unspeakable and unfathomable in this day and age, and there must be consequences for these actions, otherwise the international structures established to maintain international peace and security have utterly failed.”

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