From Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday expressed grave concerns over the fresh large-scale military incursion by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
At her weekly press briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the attack was another blatant violation of international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention, which prohibited indiscriminate targeting of civilians.
Israel launched a large-scale operation Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, killing at least 11 Pales-tinians, as the nearly 11-month-old Gaza war showed no signs of abating.
Children were among those killed, according to the United Nations, while Hamas said the fatalities in-cluded three members of its armed wing in the Jenin refugee camp.
The FO spokesperson reiterated the country’s call for the UN Security Council to take immediate measures to stop the genocide of Palestinian people, end Israel’s blatant violations of international laws and the UN Charter, and hold it accountable for war crimes.
She said that the repeated Israeli transgressions and the use of force, including airstrikes and drone attacks on populated areas was a blatant violation of the international humanitarian laws.
The spokesperson reiterated Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the bombing of the historic Grand Mosque in Khan Younis by Israeli forces, and said the assault on a place of deep cultural and religious significance was a clear violation of international laws and the Hague Convention.
Highlighting the diplomatic engagements during the last week, she mentioned Foreign Secretary Mu-hammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi’s visit to Cameroon where he was leading a Pakistani delegation at the 50th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFMs).
At the CFMs, he would share Pakistan’s perspective on genocide in Gaza, dire humanitarian situation and Israeli adventurism in the region threatening regional peace.
He will also highlight the atrocities being committed by India in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the issues of Islamophobia and climate change.
