26 Int'l Partners Urge Immediate End Of War In Gaza Strip

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) LONDON, July 21 (KUNA) -- Foreign Ministers of 25 countries and the European Union issued Monday a joint statement urging the immediate end of war in the Gaza Strip.
The UK's Foreign Office mentioned in a statement that it was signed by Foreign Ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK and the EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.
"The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity," read the statement.
They condemned the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food, calling the killing of more than 800 Palestinians while seeking aid horrific.
"The Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law," they said.
The joint statement also called for the immediate and conditional release of prisoners held by Hamas, "A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families,"
It urged the Israeli occupation's government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively.
As for proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a "humanitarian city", the statement called them "completely unacceptable" as permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.
"We strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
This marks a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermines the two-state solution.
The statement took note of accelerated settlement building across the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the soaring settler violence against Palestinians saying that it must stop.
"We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this,"
Signees voiced their preparedness to take action, support an immediate ceasefire, "a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region," (end)
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