BRUSSELS, May 23, 2025 (WAFA) – Israel’s acts in the Gaza Strip point in the direction of ethnic cleansing and genocide, Saskia Kluit, Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said on Friday.
“The massacre underway in Gaza is man-made and an enormous tragedy for our shared humanity as we allow it to unfold unhindered before our eyes,” Kluit said in a press statement.
She pointed out that since March 2, 2025, Israel has imposed a full blockade of essential humanitarian supplies to the Strip, compounded by the resumption of a full-scale attack on the Strip.
She warned that “the situation has deteriorated beyond imagination,” and that “children are the first victims of this systematic violence.”
“Without food, clean water, medical care, and safe shelter, their right to life is being denied. The very few goods being allowed in by the Israeli government are not sufficient to feed the population, and they are not reaching the most vulnerable. Children are dying of starvation,” she elaborated.
Pointing to Israel’s complete disregard for international law, she stressed the need for “humanitarian aid (to) be delivered unconditionally, unhindered and in sufficient quantities to sustain the health of a population.”
“The Palestinian population in Gaza is confined to an ever-shrinking space, with no escape and no respite from bombings and attacks. The so-called safety zones offer no safety at all,” she said.
“All this - combined with the declarations on the Gazans by members of the Israeli government - makes it very hard to ignore that these acts point in the direction of ethnic cleansing and genocide,” she added.
She urged Israel, the occupying power, to immediately stop the killing of the population in Gaza and fully respect its commitments under international law.
She also urged Israel to immediately grant independent, neutral and unhindered access by humanitarian organisations, such as UNRWA, and to ensure that an adequate supply of essential goods in the Gaza Strip is immediately guaranteed.
She denounced plans to displace Palestinians from the Strip forcibly.
“Plans to remove the population of Gaza from the territory, which would deny the right of Gazan children to a future life in their homeland, must immediately be denounced and withdrawn.”
She called on the international community to immediately “fulfil its duty in speaking the truth and follow its legal obligations under the Geneva Conventions, including the genocide convention.”
Se urged the member states of the Council of Europe to “do everything in their power to ensure the ceasefire is restored and international law is respected.”
“The people of Gaza are human beings and must be protected as such – the collective punishment and the dehumanisation of Palestinians must stop now,” she concluded.
K.F.
