International Desk, Oct 14 (EFE).- The war in the Middle East unleashed new demonstrations for and against Israel and the Palestinian cause on Saturday, among calls for respect for humanitarian law after the end of the Israeli ultimatum to evacuate northern Gaza.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in cities such as Barcelona (Spain) and London in support of the Palestinians, amid warnings from the British police that anyone showing support for the Islamist group Hamas could be arrested.
With Israel’s ultimatum to force the exodus of more than 1.1 million people from the northern Gaza Strip, Arab countries and organizations expressed their indignation at what they described as “war crimes” against the Palestinians.
International humanitarian law “Grave violation of international law,” denounced the Arab League, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, among others.
They warned that the ultimatum also entails plunging the more than 2.2 million Gazans to the brink of an “unprecedented” humanitarian catastrophe.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan insisted in Riyadh to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “Israel must respect international humanitarian law.”
The president of the Arab Parliament, Adel al Asumi, described the measures imposed by Israel as “open genocide” in the face of the “shameful silence” of the international community.
The UN special rapporteur for the human rights of the Palestinians, Francesca Albanesa, said that the Palestinians are on the way to suffering a “new ethnic cleansing.”
In Spain, the acting Prime Minister, Socialist Pedro Sanchez, condemned “categorically and without any ambiguity the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel and the deaths of Israelis.”
“With the same forcefulness, we say that Israel has the right to defend itself, but always within international humanitarian law, which does not materially endorse the evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza as the United Nations says,” he added.
The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, warned that the order for the population to leave the area could provoke “almost a genocide.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated Germany’s “complete solidarity” with Israel in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
The Council of Europe, a pro-human rights body comprising 46 European countries, considered Israel’s right to respond to attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas “legitimate” but called for “proportionality” in the response, as well as “protection” for civilians in Gaza.
The European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, reiterated that the displacement of more than one million people is “dangerous” and “practically impossible”.
Borrell said via the social network X that he “fully” supports UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ warning that Israel’s request “is perilous and practically impossible.”
From Latin America The violence in the Middle East has also ignited Latin American politics and driven a wedge between unconditional support for Israel from the right and a more nuanced stance from the left.
On the one hand, the progressive leaders of Argentina and Brazil countries with the largest Jewish communities in Latin America.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez expressed his “energetic condemnation and repudiation of the brutal terrorist attack.” In contrast, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in addition to condemning the attack, tried to maintain a balance by demanding a “humanitarian corridor” to bring aid to Gaza.
A demand was also supported from Chile by the leftist Gabriel Boric.
The Colombian Gustavo Petro was more controversial for not explicitly condemning Hamas terrorism and comparing the Israeli government to the Nazis.
The war between Israel and the Gaza militias began last Saturday with a surprise attack by Hamas that left more than 1,300 dead in Israeli territory.
Since then, Israeli retaliatory bombardments have caused more than 2,200 deaths in the Palestinian strip, according to different sources. EFE
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