Iran’s Foreign Minister on Monday accused the United States government of approving a deadly attack believed to have been carried out by Israel on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus last week.
“America is responsible for this incident and must be held accountable,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters at the inauguration of a new consulate in the Syrian capital.
“The fact that the US and two European countries opposed a resolution [do Conselho de Segurança da ONU] condemning the attack on the Iranian embassy is a sign that the US has given the green light to the Zionist regime [Israel]” to carry out the attack, he said
Asked about Amirabdollahian’s remarks, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh denied that Washington was linked to the attack.
“I can vehemently reject that and say… the US military had no involvement in that attack that took place in Damascus,” she told reporters.
A day after the April 2 consulate attack, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Amirabdollahian’s comments that Washington, Israel’s main supporter, was responsible for the attack “absurd.”
Numbers from the massacre in Gaza
The government of the Gaza Strip updated the figures for the massacre, at the 185-day mark — or more than half a year — after it began on October 7. At least 33,207 Palestinians were killed, including 14,520 children. Thousands more remain missing or trapped under the rubble.
More than 75,930 Palestinians suffered injuries, with more than 11,000 of these suffering serious injuries, requiring treatment outside Gaza. More than a million displaced people have contracted infectious diseases.
At least two million Palestinians are internally displaced in Gaza. Around 17 thousand children lost one or both parents.
At least 485 medical professionals were killed. More than 310 doctors and 20 journalists were arrested by Israeli forces.
Paz?
To the news agency ReutersHamas spokesman Ali Baraka said the group rejected the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal suggested in Cairo talks. The statement corroborates an earlier statement made by Hamas that no progress had been made in the negotiations.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date for the invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza has been set, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US government has not yet know about this schedule.
“We have made it clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have a hugely damaging effect on civilians and would ultimately harm Israel’s security,” Miller said, noting that Washington does not want to see a full-scale invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s last refuge for displaced Palestinians.
It is estimated that Rafah, which was home to around 200,000 Palestinians, is now home to more than a million displaced people from other areas of Gaza, the majority of whom are children.
Context
The current Israeli massacre in the Gaza Strip — or military operation, as Israel calls it — began in October last year, but conditions in the Palestinian territory were already considered “suffocating” by the UN before that.
The 17-year Israeli blockade — to force Hamas, the party that won the Palestinian elections in 2006, to give up power — generated unemployment rates of 45% and food insecurity that affected 64% of the population. The UN estimated that more than 80% of Gaza residents depended on foreign aid to survive.
On October 7, members of Hamas entered Israel and carried out the most violent attack ever suffered by the country, leaving around 1,200 dead and capturing 240 hostages. The Netanyahu government’s response was considered disproportionate by the international community. Daily bombings in what is considered one of the most densely populated territories in the world have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed the entire infrastructure of Gaza.
The number of fatalities exceeded 32 thousand Palestinians — around 70% women and children —, with more than 8 thousand people missing under the rubble. 35% of the buildings were destroyed and practically all of the more than two million inhabitants were forced to leave their homes.
In the other occupied Palestinian territory, the West Bank, illegal violence carried out by Israeli settlers is daily, with more than 500 deaths. Since the start of the conflict, thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and the government has announced that thousands more will be detained this year.
The UN warns of a humanitarian disaster, accusing Israel of using collective hunger as a weapon of war and highlighting the real possibility that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will die due to lack of food.
Editing: Matheus Alves de Almeida
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
