The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad Al-Maliki, called on the United Kingdom to stop the brutal Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in the killing of innocent civilians, most of whom are children and women, thousands of injured and wounded, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands.

This came during Al-Maliki’s meeting, today, Wednesday, with Lord Ahmed, Minister of State for the Middle East, South Asia and the United Nations at the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Ramallah.

Al-Maliki stressed the importance of working immediately to achieve a ceasefire and ensuring the entry of basic humanitarian needs into the Gaza Strip.

He pointed out that the Israeli machine of killing and destruction considers Palestinian civilians as collateral victims in its war against the Gaza Strip, adding that we must carefully consider the statements made by Israeli officials, especially the recent ones by the spokesman for the Islah Army, which confirm that this machine deliberately targets defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip. A small area crowded with Palestinian civilians in the Jabalia camp was bombed with 6 huge bombs, each of which weighed a ton of explosives, which left massive destruction to homes and hundreds of martyrs and wounded.

Al-Maliki added: Not only that, Israeli President Herzog stated a few days ago, “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza,” at a time when Israeli Channel 14 is publishing the names of Palestinian martyrs and writing about them as terrorists.

He expressed his deep dissatisfaction with some countries continuing to justify what Israel is doing as self-defense. Deliberately targeting innocent civilians is not self-defense, and this crime, which is accompanied by Israeli disregard for international laws, must not be tolerated.

He called for urgent international intervention to save what remained of the health system in the Gaza Strip due to the interruption of the fuel needed for hospitals to operate in light of the presence of a large number of wounded, in addition to the occupation directly targeting a number of hospitals, bombing the surroundings of some of them, and threatening to bomb a number of others as well, as there is no justification. Therefore, nothing but more killing and destruction, stressing the need to subject Israel to international laws, accountability and accountability, and to stop double standards in treating Israel exceptionally.

In the same context, Al-Maliki warned of the explosive situation in the occupied West Bank, the escalation of violations and crimes committed by the occupation forces and settler militias against Palestinian citizens, and the arming of settlers and their opening fire on citizens with the aim of killing, as happened recently in the town of Al-Sawiya when a settler opened fire on olive pickers, which led to... To the martyrdom of a Palestinian citizen, all of this is done with the protection of the occupation army and with direct incitement from the political level, in addition to the continued incursions of the occupation forces into Palestinian cities and towns, which leave martyrs and wounded, as happened today in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Hebron. He also called on Britain to intervene to curb these violations and crimes, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and pressure Israel to release Palestinian funds held by Israel.

For his part, Lord Ahmed thanked Al-Maliki for receiving him in these difficult circumstances, expressing his regret for the civilian casualties, stressing that his country is working with all international parties to secure the arrival of aid to the Rafah crossing.

Lord Ahmed indicated that Britain supports the two-state solution and is working at all levels to achieve progress on the political horizon between the two parties, and to develop mechanisms that contribute to achieving change on the ground, expressing his hope to end the conflict as soon as possible.

In conclusion, Al-Maliki stressed the need for Britain to provide the necessary protection for our mission and its crew in Britain in light of the threats they are exposed to, referring to the previous request from the British Prime Minister about the importance of providing this protection, at the same time holding Britain fully responsible for what may happen to the ambassador and the mission’s crew. .

The meeting was attended by Director of the Western Europe Department, Senior Advisor Ihab Al-Tari, Acting Director of the Media Unit, Ihab Omar, Third Secretary Sofia Daibes from the Minister’s Office, and Responsible for the British File, Third Secretary Yara Daiq.