Embassy of the State of Palestine

Pretoria

The Embassy of the State of Palestine presents its compliments to the Department of lnternational Relations and Cooperation, all Diplomatic Missions and international organizations accredited to the Republic of South Africa and have the honour to forward a statement issued by the Embassy of the State of Palestine to South Africa on the lsraeli war Crimes against the people of Gaza.

The Embassy of the State of Palestine avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Department of lnternational Relations and Cooperation, all lnternational Organizations accredited to the Republic of South Africa the assurance of its highest consideration.

DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION, ALL DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ACCREDITED TO THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Statement issued by the Embassy of the state of Palestine to South Africa on the lsraeli war crimes against the people of Gaza

Pretoria -21 July 2014

The Embassy of the state of Palestine to South Africa once again strongly condemns the lsraeli bloodbath and war crimes on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. So far at least 5L0 Palestinians have been killed, including over 120 children and about 85 women; and more than 3600 Palestinians have been injured in a bombardment of lsraeli strikes from air, sea and land.

Many of these injured are in critical condition and will never live normal lives again as hundreds have required amputations in order to save their lives. Moreover, more than 2000 Palestinian homes have been demolished or severely damaged in these strikes.

This is in addition to the many schools, hospitals and health centres, ministries and religious sites that have been destroyed. Furthermore, over 135,000 people have been displaced and 95% of the population in the Gaza strip have been affected by the lsraeli destruction of electricity, water and waste water infrastructure.

lsrael is committing a genocide on a large civilian population, claiming to be limiting civilian causalities but is in fact often clearly targeted them, such as the 4 Palestinian boys under the age of 12 who witnesses say were deliberately killed by an lsraeli strike while they were playing football on the beach.

On Saturday night this murder of civilians rose significantly whereby at least 100 Palestinians were killed in Shejaeyya on that night alone. lmages of dead children with their heads blown open flooded the streets while ambulances had difficulty reaching the injured and dead due to the dangers of entering the area and due to the sheer size of the pile of rubble they had to search between to pull the bodies out from.

lsrael has also been committing war crimes against the large population in Gaza. The Ministry of Health in Palestine has reported that lsrael has been using illegal poisonous gases, such as sarin gas, suffocating its victims. This is not the first time lsrael has used illegal weapons on the civilian population while denying these claims even though clear evidence is presented.

The brutality of the lsraeli aggression on the people of Gaza has caused a medical humanitarian crisis as hospitals are short of medication to help the overwhelming influx of injured civilians. Hospitals are also without electricity, exacerbating the desperate medical crisis in Gaza.

The Embassy of the state of Palestine is proud of the ANC's unapologetic stance with the Palestinian people and condemnation of the lsraeli aggression as well as the support given by other political parties in South Africa.

The embassy is also appreciative of the recent position of the ANC's parliamentary caucus. We expect such a firm stance from South Africa to fully support the Palestinian people at this critical time.

The embassy requests that the international community interfere in immediately ending the lsraeli aggression and war crimes in the Gaza Strip in order to protect the Palestinian people and help save innocent lives.

Moreover, the embassy requests that the international community work to end the suffocating siege on Gaza and the cruel lsraeli apartheid occupation of Palestinian territories in order to ensure true lasting peace in the region.

The embassy therefore calls all organisations, companies and people to sever ties with the apartheid state of lsrael through boycotts, divestments and sanctions. This is a peaceful form of condemnation against the lsraeli crimes.

Like in the case of former apartheid South Africa, isolation coerced the apartheid government to finally end the regime; similarly lsrael will only stop its aggressions and genuinely participate in negotiations if its current status quo deems unworkable.

Statement issued by the Embassy of the State of Palestine, Pretoria, and further circulated by the SACP, July 21 2014

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