The National Council Of Palestine Urges The World To Deploy International Forces In Gaza

Palestinian Illustration (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The President of the Palestinian National Council, Saturday (18/10), urged the international community to take immediate action to deploy international troops in the Gaza Strip to protect Palestinian civilians.

In a statement following Israel's massacre of a Palestinian family, Rawhi Fattouh said that Israeli soldiers on Friday targeted a civilian vehicle carrying 11 people in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, Gaza City, without warning after passing the so-called "yellow line".

The "yellow line" is an unofficial demarcation separating the territory where Israeli troops are stationed from the territory where Palestinians are allowed to move in the Gaza Strip.

Quoted by ANTARA, he said the massacre was "part of Israel's continued assassination and destruction policies," calling it "crime and reflection of the systematic policies carried out by the occupation of the Palestinian people."

"This crime is not an isolated act, but rather part of a pattern of continued killing and destruction amid international indifference to hold the perpetrators accountable," Fattouh said.

He considers the Israeli government "fully responsible for this war crime against humanity" and calls on the international community to "take immediate action to deploy international troops to provide protection to the Palestinian people."

Fattouh also urged world superpowers and the US government to "ensure a ceasefire remains valid and provides food, shelter, and medical care for Palestinians in accordance with the principles of justice and human rights."

He said Israel's justification for targeting the vehicle, with the claim that the vehicle approached the so-called "yellow lines", constitutes "heavy violations of international humanitarian law" and further evidence of "Israel's appeal to humanitarian values and international conventions that prohibit attacks on civilians."

The ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, mediated through regional and international mediation and implemented on October 10, established the withdrawal of some Israeli troops from several regions in Gaza into new positions within the region known as the "yellow line".

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom were women and children, and left most of the region uninhabitable.