The Ambassador of the State of Palestine To Nigeria, Abdallah Shawesh has decried the support the United States and other Western countries are giving to Israel to commit genocide against Palestinians in the ongoing war in Gaza.
The envoy told a news conference in Abuja yesterday that Israel used F-15s, F-16s, F-35s, helicopters, tanks, missiles, and ammunition, which cost billions of dollars, to destroy Palestinian refugee camps and kill thousands of their very poor, scared, and displaced inhabitants.
According to the envoy, due to the Israeli aggression hundreds of people died due to lack of proper medical treatment and infectious diseases even as he expressed fear that famine is imminent.
He said, “Without the unshakable and unquestionable Western support to the Israeli aggression, this war would not have happened. The Palestinians in Gaza today are being forced to choose between being killed, maimed, or fleeing their homes. Remember, 70 percent of them are already refugees who fled their homeland 76 years ago.”
He called on the US President Joe Biden to take practical steps to put an end to the butchery of innocent people by American-supplied weapons.
Apart from the violence against the Palestinians, Shawesh accused Israeli soldiers of stealing $54 million from Palestine bank in Gaza, adding that Israeli forces are also attacking medical facilities since the outbreak of the hostilities following the October 7, 2023 attacks carried out by Hamas against Israeli citizens.
He said, “WHO had documented 721 attacks on health care in the OPT since 7 October; of those, 357 attacks in Gaza had resulted in 645 fatalities. 28,300 people were martyred at the hands of the Israeli occupation, including 7750 women and 12250 children, while 68,000 were injured. 8000 are still missing under the rubble. Out of the 22 health units affiliated with the UNRWA, only four are operating due to the destruction and access restrictions. Thirteen hospitals out of 36 in Gaza are functioning.
“There is a risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases due to unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and the heavy burden on the health system.”
He also urged the international community to stop the planned Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, an enclave that is already brimming with over 1.4 million refugees, most of whom were displaced from their homes. He said that such action will escalate the already dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.
He said, “Rafah is at stake and the Palestinians are very close to being exiled to Sinai. Rafah is a Palestinian city located near the border with Egypt. It became heavily populated by Gazans after the IOF forcibly displaced them from the north.
“The Israeli prime minister has asked the IOF to prepare a military plan to invade it, stating that the over 1.4 million civilians who have crowded into Rafah will be able to evacuate before the army begins operations there.
“One very dangerous point here is that he did not indicate where they will be evacuated? Will they be sent to the north? Meaning back to the rubble of their homes and the remains of their house units? Or will they be sent to the south, which would force them to cross the Egyptian borders? In this case, are they going to implement their very old plan of expelling the Palestinians to Sinai?”
