Embassy of the State of Palestine

The minister for foreign affairs, Julie Bishop, said she was “deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“The retaliatory acts from both sides that have led to civilian deaths and injuries are deeply regrettable, and I call on all parties to exercise restraint and do everything necessary to avoid a further escalation of violence,” she said.

PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said, “Following the meetings of the Palestinian leadership, particularly the Political Committee and the PLO Executive Committee, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is undertaking several steps and measures to deal with the horrific situation in Gaza.”

More than 4000 Sydney protesters joined hundreds of thousands around the world on Sunday to demand an end to Israeli military strikes on Gaza.

The boisterous crowd stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinian.”

ANIC condemns in the strongest possible terms the unfair and disproportionate military assault by the Jewish State against the Palestinian people including women and children.
We call upon the Australian Government to condemn the systematic killing of the
Palestinian people and to do all it can on the international level to stop the Israeli aggression against the people of the Gaza Strip. The international community must actively intervene to stop this unjust and unwarranted aggression.

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) condemns the continuous Israeli occupation’s ferocious aggression on the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. ICHR calls for the international community to take an immediate action to end Israeli war crimes and collective punishments in the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for Palestinian civilians. ICHR also calls on the President of the State of Palestine to sign and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and exert all necessary pressure to ensure the opening of the Rafah borders with Egypt for provision of medical and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

"I am writing this as ambulance and rescue crews continue to search for bodies. Among the ones they have uncovered so far are those of 4-year-old Mohammed Nawasra, whose body was found underneath the ruins of his home in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, his 5-year-old brother, Nidal, and their 29-year-old mother, Sumoud Nawasra. Miriam Nawasra, 83, and Khalaf Nawasra, 29, were found alive, but critically injured. The Nawasra house in Maghazi refugee camp was targeted by an Israeli F-16 missile. No one knows why. Their home was bombed at 5:30 a.m., as the family slept".

We call on all members of the international community, particularly the United Nations, European Union and the United States, to act immediately to put an end to Israel’s deliberate targeting of the besieged Gaza Strip and its civilian population under occupation.”

In a special report issued by the Negotiation Affairs Department the following were highlighted: "The latest Israeli criminal assault against the Palestinian people aims at targeting Palestinian national unity, weakening Palestinian institutions and enforce the disconnection between the West Bank & Gaza Strip. Its methods include the collective punishment of the Palestinian people throughout the occupied West Bank, including Israel, and the Gaza Strip. Alarmingly, in the past few days, the Israeli government has severely intensified its actions against the already besieged Gaza and its 1.7 million inhabitants. As an occupying power, Israel is required to comply with obligations under international humanitarian law. Nevertheless, it systematically continues to violate its obligations through unrelenting colonization, expropriation and aggression in Palestine".

In his speech, the secretary General said: "The implications of the wall go far beyond its legality. The wall severely restricts Palestinian movement and access throughout the West Bank, cuts off land and access to resources needed for Palestinian development, and continues to undermine agricultural and rural livelihoods throughout the West Bank. Moreover, the wall and increased settlement expansion have worsened the fragmentation of the Palestinian Territory, compounding the increasing isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the Territory".

"Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas demanded Israel immediately stop its escalation and the raids on Gaza," said a statement from his office published shortly after midnight by the official WAFA news agency.

He also asked the international community "to immediately intervene to halt this dangerous escalation which would lead the region to more destruction and instability."