PAKISTAN AT UN SAYS ISRAELI CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS UNDERMINE GAZA PEACE EFFORTS

HAMILTON, Feb 19 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Wednesday that Israel's continued ceasefire violations and actions in the occupied Palestinian territories are undermining diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza conflict, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.

"We are meeting today (Wednesday) at a critical juncture. On the one hand, intensified diplomatic efforts are underway to consolidate the ceasefire, alleviate the sufferings of Palestinians and advance implementation of the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict, endorsed by Security Council resolution 2803.

"On the other hand, Israel's continued ceasefire violations, annexations, attempts and illegal actions across the occupied Palestinian territories continue to undermine these efforts and threaten prospects for a just and lasting peace," Dar said at a high-level UN Security Council session on Palestine.

He stressed that Pakistan "remains fully engaged in diplomatic efforts aimed at the permanent cessation of hostilities and a just resolution of the conflict."

Dar strongly criticised Israel's latest moves in the occupied West Bank, saying "Israel's recent illegal decisions to expand its control over the West Bank are gravely disturbing."

He said that in recent joint statements, foreign ministers of various Arab and Islamic countries condemned "in the strongest terms these measures and decisions aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity, designating land, so-called 'state land,' and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank."

"We affirmed that these illegal measures are null and void and constitute a clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law," he added.

Calling for full respect of the ceasefire, Dar said humanitarian assistance must be delivered safely and without obstruction, and reconstruction must proceed "without annexation, forced displacement or alteration of the territorial unity of the occupied Palestinian territory."

"There can be no durable peace without justice, no stability without accountability, and no sustainable solution without the realisation of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination," he said.

Violence in the West Bank has escalated since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, with reported killings, arrests, displacement and illegal settlement expansion across the territory.

On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register large areas in the West Bank as "state property" for the first time since Israel occupied the territory in 1967.

According to official Palestinian figures, more than 1,115 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and about 11,500 others have been wounded since the war began, while around 22,000 Palestinians have also been arrested during the same period.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU