“There is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip,” an Israeli military official said on Thursday, acknowledging the “many difficulties” faced by civilians in Palestinian areas ravaged by the war between Israel and Hamas.
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Israel is “facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid,” said Col. Moshe Tetro, head of Israel’s Gaza Defense Ministry, which is responsible for monitoring civilian activities in the Palestinian territories.
“We know that the civil situation in the Gaza Strip is not easy,” he added.
Egypt condemned “the international silence on Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law” in the Palestinian territory during a humanitarian conference on Gaza in Paris.
“What the Israeli government is doing goes far beyond the right to self-defense,” said Egyptian diplomatic chief Sameh Choukri, lamenting “an imbalance” in international consciousness.
Iran rejects G7 calls
Iran on Thursday rejected a G7 statement that called on Tehran to stop supporting the Palestinian Hamas and take actions that “destabilize” the Middle East.
This call comes as Israel has been relentlessly bombarding the besieged Gaza Strip for more than a month, claiming it wants to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7.
G7 diplomacy chiefs called on Iran not to support Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and not to take any action that could “destabilize the Middle East” at a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned the statement “in the strongest terms.”
AFP
He said Iran has made “continuous efforts to put an end to the military attacks of the aggressor Zionist regime (Israel) against the defenseless citizens” of the Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.
“The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Tokyo was expected to fulfill its international responsibilities, in particular by condemning the Zionist regime’s actions that violate human rights and international law in Gaza,” he added.
The Group of Seven Most Industrialized Countries (US, Japan, France, UK, Germany, Italy and Canada) also called for the establishment of “humanitarian breaks and corridors” in Gaza to protect civilians.
According to Israeli authorities, at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians, have died in Israel since the start of the war sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7. According to Israeli authorities, 239 people kidnapped during the Hamas attack on October 7 are being held in Gaza.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip have claimed more than 10,500 lives, mostly civilians, including more than 4,300 children.
“Iran sees it as its duty to support the “Axis of Resistance,” which includes armed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi said on October 29, assuring that these groups “in their opinions, decisions and actions are independent”. “
From the first day of the war, Iran has championed the cause of Hamas, which it has supported for years against Israel, the Islamic Republic’s arch-enemy.