SA government condemns Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza

Government has condemned an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip that killed dozens of displaced people who were sheltering there.

The Israeli strike in Gaza killed scores of people and left many more injured when it struck the facility without any prior warning.

Massacre

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said  Israel’s raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp on innocent civilians in a designated safe zone, “is one of the single worst massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza.”

“We are appalled that these attacks are being praised by some, for saving four Israeli hostages, while killing and severely injuring hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians.

“While families mourn the loss of life, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant jubilantly termed the operation ‘daring in nature, planned brilliantly, and executed in an extraordinary fashion’. This once again raises the question of whether some believe that Palestinian lives matter,” Dirco said.

The heinous attack by Israel comes at a time when significant progress to reach a negotiated outcome based on a much-needed ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners were at a break-through stage.

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Women and children

Dirco said the attacks “undermine this political process and raises the fundamental question as to whether Israel, the occupying power, is in any way committed to ongoing mediation efforts and ultimately the Middle East Peace Process.”

“The government and people of South Africa convey its deepest condolences to the families and the victims of these callous attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp and decry the rising death toll.”

Dirco said it is also shocked and concerned by a report from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) that the Al-Aqsa and Nasser hospitals are treating an “overwhelming number of severely injured patients, many of whom are women and children”, in Gaza.

International community

“These continuous attacks on sources of care, shelter and protection for the civilian population who continue to bear the brunt of these inhumane attacks as part of a systematic annihilation of lifesaving means for innocent Palestinian people.

“The international community must act immediately to bring to an end the aggression meted against Palestinians. It is our collective human duty to call for a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire. Nothing can justify the deliberate killings and injuring of civilians as an entire population endures destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Dirco said.

Government also agreed with the comment by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese “This is genocidal intent turned into action. Crystal clear”.

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