The State of Palestine Ambassador, Abdallah Attari, called on the government, political parties, and parliament to condemn the “ongoing massacre and ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians after the Gaza hospital strike.
He stated that the attack on hundreds of Palestinian civilians at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, which he attributed to the Israeli side, will remain a “black mark on humanity”.
A blast has killed more than 500 Palestinians at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
The Cyprus Foreign Ministry condemned the attack but apportioned no blame.
The Israeli military says the bombing – one of the deadliest attacks on a hospital in decades – resulted from a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket.
US President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that militants had caused a blast that killed many Palestinians at a Gaza hospital.
The fireball that engulfed the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital delivered some of the most harrowing images yet from a 12-day war and wrecked White House plans for Biden’s emergency diplomatic mission to the Middle East, with Arab leaders calling off their planned summit with the US president.
Attari told the Cyprus News Agency the massacre committed against hundreds of Palestinian civilians who sought refuge in a hospital by the “Israeli military” and were displaced from one side of Gaza “will forever remain a black mark on the conscience of humanity”.
Eyes closed
He said the international community, especially the Security Council, “must act now and condemn this massacre because it is a massacre, and unfortunately, the world is closing its eyes”.
“With one eye, it sees what is happening in Ukraine and what happened in Israel, and the other eye is closed.
“What is happening in Palestine does not move public opinion”.
The Palestinian Embassy has opened a book of condolences and declared three days of mourning over the attack.
“We have opened the embassy doors for three days for anyone who has the sensitivity to show their support for the Palestinian people to come for condolences.
“We are mourning for three days, all the Palestinian embassies, the Palestinian Authority, and the entire Palestinian people.
“We urge the Cypriot government and all political parties, as well as the Parliament, to condemn the ongoing massacre and ethnic cleansing”, the Ambassador said.
On the Foreign Ministry statement about the hospital blast, he said, “It simply talks about an attack and does not specify, does not name who carried out the attack”.
The Republic of Cyprus representative to the State of Palestine, Demetris Assos, told CNA that people gather in hospitals for two reasons.
They were among the few places in Gaza that had electricity because they had generators and were given priority in getting fuel to keep their equipment running.
And people are going to hospitals to charge their mobile phones so they do not lose access to communication as they have been living without electricity for the past week.
The second reason, he explained, is that hospitals were considered safe havens since they are not military targets.
“That’s why the number of victims is so high.” (source agencies)
