NEW YORK, Friday, March 15, 2024 (WAFA) - The Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, has dispatched three identical letters addressing the UN Secretary-General, the President of the Security Council for the month (Japan), and the President of the UN General Assembly calling for action to stop the ongoing Israeli war of genocide against the Palestinian people.
Ambassador Mansour's letters urgently call for global intervention to protect millions of Palestinian children, women, and men whose lives are under threat due to ongoing Israeli assaults in the Gaza Strip and other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
He emphasizes the critical situation that has resulted in the killing of 31,341 Palestinians, including children, women, and men, and injured more than 73,000 others in Gaza as of March 13, over the course of five months. Mansour points out that over 70% of the casualties are women and children.
These numbers do not account for approximately 8,000 Palestinians still missing under the rubble throughout Gaza or those who disappeared due to arrests and other human rights abuses by Israel, including sexual violence and torture, says Mansour in his letters. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, 418 Palestinians have been killed, and 5,000 others injured.
The diplomat warned of the Israeli threats of a large-scale invasion of Rafah, which could put the lives of more than 1.5 million Palestinians at imminent risk.
He also addressed the escalating Israeli provocations and incitement in the West Bank, including actions concerning the Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing the dangerous and far-reaching consequences if these actions are not halted.
Mansour reiterated his call for the Security Council to fulfill its obligations under the Charter by demanding and enforcing an immediate ceasefire and to take action to protect Palestinian civilians from further harm, ensuring the implementation of all relevant resolutions.
Mansour insisted that stopping the violence against Palestinians, including killings, injuries, forced displacement, collective punishment, and starvation used as a warfare tactic, as well as all human rights violations by the illegal Israeli colonial occupation and apartheid system, is imperative.
He emphasized that an immediate ceasefire must be accompanied by a complete halt to Israel's plans for the forced transfer of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including the latest threat of forcibly relocating 1.5 million civilians in Rafah, among them over 600,000 children, to so-called "humanitarian islands."
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