RAMALLAH: Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh today demanded a stop to what he described as Israel’s war of genocide and ethnic cleansing, which is continuing for the tenth day in the Gaza Strip, amid the cutting of water and electricity, and not allowing the entry of food and medical supplies.

“Israel is killing children. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the killing of more than 800 children and more than 500 women,” he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah. “Israel is targeting civilians, and the goal behind this blockade is mass killing and mass displacement. More than 2,808 were killed and more than 11,000 were wounded. These are people, each of whom has a story, and a life, and they are civilized people with history and future. They are not human animals as the occupation leaders brag. But our people will not surrender.”

Shtayyeh warned against displacing the people in the Gaza Strip and creating a new Nakba, catastrophe. “Our people will not leave their land or emigrate from it, no matter how heavy the sacrifices are. They are capable of confronting it and thwarting it just as they thwarted many liquidation and resettlement projects throughout the past times in the struggle,” he said.

“The international community, mainly the American administration, is required to intervene urgently to stop the aggression, provide protection for the civilians and their homes, and prevent their displacement, and the United Nations is required to at least protect its employees, as more than 30 UNRWA employees were killed,” said the Prime Minister.

“We also warn against the continued confiscation of lands, the intensification of settlements here, and the targeting of Bedouin communities, because this is a massacre against the land and human beings as well,” he added, expressing hope that “friendly countries, through their ambassadors, will clearly protest the destruction, blockade, settler terrorism, bombing of residential buildings and hospitals, and the killing of innocent civilians.”

Shtayyeh called on all concerned countries to intervene immediately to open safe corridors for the entry of medical and food supplies and the evacuation of the wounded after the hospitals have become overcrowded as the number of wounded has exceeded 11,000.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA