In light of the new bombings on the Gaza Strip, which increase the number of victims every second, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, confirmed today, Thursday, that 3,000 children and 1,700 women have been killed by Israel, out of 7,000 killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
“Neighborhoods destroyed”
Mansour added, tearfully, in his speech to the United Nations, that entire neighborhoods have been destroyed and families exterminated in the Gaza Strip, launching an appeal to “Stop the bombing of Gaza and save the lives of children and civilians.”
He warned of the conflict spreading to the region if the bombing of Gaza did not stop, stressing that more than 1,600 children are under the rubble of destruction in the Gaza Strip.
“The Palestinians no longer have homes to return to.”
He also added that UNRWA places of worship and schools in Gaza were not spared from Israeli bombing, stressing that there were no homes left for Palestinians to return to after their destruction.
He wondered: “Why do some people feel so much pain towards Israel and little towards Palestine? Where is the problem? Skin color, religion or origin?”
“The displacement of one million and 400 thousand”
While stressing that Israel considers international laws to be applicable to all and not to them, he explained that Israel has displaced more than 1,400,000 people in the Gaza Strip.
On the other hand, Israel’s representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said: “Hamas does not care about the Palestinian people and must be destroyed.”
“Collective punishment is not self-defense.”
Regarding the Arab group at the United Nations, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said: “Collective punishment is not self-defense but a war crime,” underlining his rejection of double standards and “Israel must not remain above law”.
He also said: “We oppose the use of hunger as a weapon against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
“Revenge War”
This comes after Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in The Hague on Thursday described Israel’s attack on Gaza as a “revenge war”, calling for a ceasefire.
Al-Maliki’s visit to The Hague came as the Israeli army carried out a nighttime incursion into the Gaza Strip, in which, according to a military spokesperson, a column of tanks and an infantry force participated, against “numerous ” goals before retiring.
‘Possible truce’
The visit also coincides with a meeting of European Union officials in Brussels to discuss the situation as they move to call for a “humanitarian truce” in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas members launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials. They are believed to still hold more than two hundred hostages.
On the other hand, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health announced that more than 7,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including many children, have been killed in the ongoing Israeli shelling.