5 days ago
Israel violations across Mideast threaten regional and int'l security: Egypt UN envoy - Foreign Affairs
Israel's violations pose a threat to collective regional and international security, said Ambassador Osama Abdel-Khalek, Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations, during the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) session on developments in the Middle East and the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Ambassador Abdel-Khalek strongly condemned "the Israeli occupation's breaches of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon" and its "continued violations of Syrian territories," according to Al-Qahera News.
"The Palestinian people have been under fierce attacks for more a year and a half," he noted.
Abdel-Khalek reiterated Egypt's commitment to "continuing mediation efforts to establish an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.'
He also stressed Egypt's rejection of an Israeli plan to forcibly relocate Palestinian civilians to a ghetto-style, so-called 'humanitarian city' in the southern part of the strip.
Moreover, he called on the UNSC to "issue a resolution that compels Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza," urging the international community to "assume its responsibility toward the Israeli aggression on Gaza."
Abdel-Khalek's comments, as the images of tens of emaciated Palestinians, including children, who have been starved to death by the five-month-old Israeli blockade on aid to Gaza, sent shivers among millions around the world.
On Monday, 25 Western countries, along with the EU's crisis commissioner, issued a joint statement calling for an immediate end to Israel's war on Gaza and the immediate and unfettered entry of humanitarian aid to the strip.
The statement, which Egypt welcomed, condemned Israel's blockade on the entry of aid to the strip and rejected any forced displacement or settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Wednesday, in Gaza ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US in Doha, Hamas submitted its response to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.
Hamas proposed amendments related to aid entry to the strip, Israel's military withdrawal maps, and guarantees for a permanent end to the war, according to sources familiar with the Doha talks.
Since launching its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the Israeli army has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 140,000, mostly children and women.
In parallel, the Israeli army has carried out deadly operations against 3 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, killing hundreds and forcing tens of thousands out of their homes.
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