Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani on Sunday expressing solidarity with Palestine against Israeli oppression called for the international community to intervene to protect Palestinian civilians.
More than 300 Palestinians have been martyred after Israel launched retaliatory air strikes in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s operation “Al-Aqsa Storm” which saw 5,000 rockets being launched into Israel from Gaza, followed by gunmen infiltrating areas in the southern region of the country.
The foreign minister also expressed concern over the volatile situation and the loss of precious Palestinian lives.
“Pakistan is deeply concerned by the escalating hostility in the Middle East and the loss of innocent lives. We stand in solidarity with Palestinians and call for an immediate end to the violence and oppression by Israeli occupation forces,” Jilani wrote on his X account.
Furthermore, the caretaker minister also called for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state on the basis of pre-1967 borders and according to the United Nations (UN) resolutions.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 370 Palestinians have been martyred, including 20 children, and nearly 2,000 wounded by Israeli air strikes in Gaza since Saturday.
Israeli forces battled holdout Hamas fighters and pounded targets in the Gaza Strip with the army saying tens of thousands of soldiers were deployed in southern desert regions near the coastal enclave, to rescue Israeli hostages and then evacuate the entire region within 24 hours.
Senior military officers were among those killed in fighting near Gaza, the Israeli military said.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that had begun in Gaza, a narrow strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years.
‘Concerned’ Pakistan calls for ending hostilities
President Arif Alvi on Sunday condemned the brutalisation of Palestinian rights.
Urging the international community to intervene, the president stressed the need to adhere to UN resolutions.
“Progress towards peace cannot materialise without condemnation of usurpation & brutalisation of Palestinian rights & people by Israel […] Time has come to move forward in line with UN resolutions. The international community can play a big role today towards world peace,” Dr Alvi wrote on his X account.
A day earlier, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) had also expressed concerns over the human cost of the escalating situation pertaining to the latest Palestine-Israel conflict after Hamas launched an attack against the occupying forces, the biggest in years.
Meanwhile, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar was also heartbroken by the escalating violence in the Middle East, which underscores the urgent need to “address the Palestine Question”.
“We urge restraint and protection of civilians. Enduring peace in the Middle East lies in a two-state solution with a viable, contiguous, sovereign State of Palestine,” the premier said.
