Speaking Monday at a news conference in Sierakowice, Poland, Tusk said “terrible things are happening” in the Gaza Strip and that “people responsible will have to face consequences.”
He stressed long-standing support for Israel’s security against terrorism but said there can be no justification “for killing children” or “starving the civilian population.”
Israel’s army launched a new offensive on Gaza City on Tuesday, September 16, after weeks of heavy bombardment and attacks, prompting panic and another wave of departures. The military plan foresees moving the roughly one million residents of Gaza City to the south; about 400,000 people have left so far, according to the army.
Tusk, describing events in Gaza as “absolutely unacceptable,” said the campaign “ruins the image and history of Israel’s efforts,” adding that “a crime must be called by its name.”
While acknowledging Hamas’s responsibility for starting the conflict with its massacre of Israeli civilians and pressure on Israel from Iran, some Arab states and terrorists, he insisted this “is still no justification for what Israel has decided in Gaza.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 165,000 wounded in Israel’s Gaza offensive since the 2023 Hamas attack.
Aid groups and media report a deepening humanitarian crisis, including hunger, and warn that mass displacement could worsen civilians’ plight; many lack the ability or means to leave, and no area of the strip is safe, they say.
According to various UN bodies, experts and human rights organizations — including Amnesty International, Euro-Med Monitor, Human Rights Watch, the Lemkin Institute, and Israeli groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights — Israel’s actions in Gaza have been classified as acts of genocide, citing statements by senior Israeli officials that observers say may indicate an “intent to destroy” the population in whole or in part.
The latest Israeli push on Gaza City has drawn criticism from the United Nations, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Israel says the city is a Hamas stronghold and that taking it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian militant group.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people.
Nearly 65,000 Palestinians have died in the subsequent Israeli response, according to figures cited by the Palestinian side.
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Source: PAP