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Archives for March 2019

25 March 2019 – Palestinian Civilian Casualties

26 March 2019 by

Excellency,

I write to you with urgency, warning of the dangerous escalation of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, especially at this moment in the besieged Gaza Strip. We appeal to the international community to act with responsibility to de-escalate the situation and to ensure the protection of innocent civilian lives. The Security Council in particular is duty-bound to act to avert another deadly cycle of violence and maintain international peace and security.

As I write to you, 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – children, women and men – are once again enduring the terror of Israeli airstrikes and bombings, bracing themselves for the destruction and grief that will surely follow for our civilians who have nowhere to shelter from such aggression and cruel collective punishment of the entire population. Over the past few hours, hundreds of missiles have been fired from Israeli warplanes at areas throughout the densely-populated Gaza Strip and Israeli tanks and soldiers are amassing at the borders of cause, causing fear and panic to spread among the population of yet another war.

The intensification of inflammatory rhetoric and threats by Israel, the occupying Power, should be cause for extreme worry for the international community, which has too many times stood by and witnessed the slaughter of innocent, defenseless Palestinian civilians. We urge that the early warnings be heeded and that action be undertaken, including immediate mediation efforts, with a view to preventing such brutality and devastation once again. [Read more…]

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15 March 2019 – Israeli Airstrikes on the Gaza Strip

15 March 2019 by

Excellency,

I write once again in the span of days to draw the international community’s urgent attention to the continually rising tensions and deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as Israel, the occupying Power, persists with its aggressions, provocations and illegal policies and practices against the Palestinian people.

In the predawn (Palestine time) hours of today, Israeli warplanes carried out approximately 100 airstrikes against the Gaza Strip, terrorizing the besieged Palestinian civilian population and causing injury to at least four Palestinians. The Palestinian leadership condemns this Israeli military aggression in the strongest terms. [Read more…]

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12 March 2019 – Escalation in Occupied East Jerusalem

12 March 2019 by

Excellency,

I write to draw the international community’s urgent attention to destabilizing developments in Occupied East Jerusalem. Acts of aggression and incitement against both civilian worshippers and holy sites continue to be perpetrated by Israel, the occupying Power, in a reckless manner.

Amidst already-heightened tensions, such illegal and provocative actions threaten to spiral out of control with dangerous consequences. Immediate efforts are required to de-escalate the situation in order to protect civilian lives and the sanctity of holy sites in Occupied East Jerusalem, including Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which houses the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.

Israel’s decision today to seal all gates to the compound, as well as to the entirety of the Old City of Jerusalem itself, has seriously inflamed tensions that have already been exacerbated by the occupying Power’s earlier attempts to force the closure of the Bab al-Rahma gate and prayer area, which had been recently reopened by the Waqf. Prior to sealing off Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, Israeli occupying forces attacked Palestinian worshippers, including men and women who had been praying inside the Dome of the Rock, and also assaulted several Waqf personnel, before forcibly removing all worshippers from the compound. The Palestine Red Crescent has reported that at least four civilians have been taken to the hospital due to injuries sustained. [Read more…]

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