Gaza Death Toll Exceeds 30,000 – Official

The Ambassador of Palestine to Nigeria, Abdallah Abu Shawesh has decried the increasing scale and gravity of the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s “relentless bombardment, destruction and suffocating siege on the Gaza population” even as the death toll has reportedly hit the 30,000 mark.

The envoy told a news conference in Abuja on Thursday 70,215 injuries and around 8,000 people are still missing under the rubble following the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people since October 7 Israel started a ground invasion of Gaza after the October 7, 2023 attacks carried out by Hamas, which killed 1,200 and abducted about 200 Israeli citizens and nationals of other countries.

On the 146th day of the war Israel launched on Gaza,  Shawesh  on Thursday  called on the international community to  stop arms exports to Israel  immediately  even as he lamented that Israel has  stopped  renewing  visas and work permits for scores of aid workers who provide vital support for Palestinians in the West Bank  and Gaza.

He warned that “humanitarian aid is still being blocked by the Israeli Occupation Force and famine is next door in north Gaza, the people there are starving”.

He also accused Israeli of waging a relentless genocidal war against the Palestinian people adding that Israeli Occupied Force has reportedly subjected Palestinian women and girls to multiple forms of sexual assault such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers.

Abu Shawesh noted that Israel turns the ‘safe’ corridor to Gaza’s south into a trap to kill hungry and forcibly displaced Palestinians.

 Recall that the Palestinian Presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh was quoted as saying that “the world is genuinely interested in having security and stability in the region, it must end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and recognize an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital”.

However, the much talked about two-state solution to the Israel –Palestinian crisis is becoming increasingly uncertain with the current situation in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, as Israel insists that there won’t be peace in Gaza if Hamas is not defeated.

“Life drains out of Gaza at terrifying speed,” said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths on aid seeker attack, as the death toll in Gaza crosses 30,000-mark.