GAZA ENDURING MODERN HISTORY'S 'DARKEST CHAPTER'

The Prime Minister of Palestine, Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, reminded the world that the besieged enclave of Gaza is experiencing modern history's 'darkest chapter.'

During his recent remarks at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mustafa gave a summary of the past 11 months of Israel's military onslaught on Gaza, which has k*lled over 41,000 Palestinians, primarily women and children. According to the Lancet medical journal, that figure may have hit more than 186,000 in early July.

Tel Aviv also has blockaded the Gaza Strip since 2007. At the onset of the 7 October escalation in the 76-year-old conflict, Israel declared a total blockade of Gaza, cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies, amounting to collective punishment, which the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits.

According to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), two out of three buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Israeli settlers' violence aiming to drive Palestinians off their land has escalated. According to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have launched more than 1,000 attacks against Palestinians since 7 October, with at least 1,390 people—including 660 children—displaced.

Apart from the massacres in Gaza, multiple human-rights organisations have said Israel enforces an apartheid regime in the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They say Israeli policies systematically promote Jewish supremacy over Palestinians through spatial, legal and political divisions.

The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in July that called Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank a violation of international law and called for the immediate evacuation of settlers.

Despite these horrific experiences, the people of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are steadfast in their resistance against occupying forces, according to Mustafa.