79 Finnish diplomats sign letter criticizing country’s response to Israeli attacks on Gaza

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - Seventy-nine Finnish diplomats signed a letter that criticized the country’s response to Israeli attacks on Gaza, media reports said Wednesday.

The diplomats said in the letter to Foreign Minister Elina Valtone that Finland should demand a cease-fire in Gaza and condemned Israel's disproportionate use of force and likely violations of international law in the region, according to the public broadcaster, YLE, that noted that critical messages sent to ministers by civil servants are rare in Finland’s history.

Valtone said it was good to discuss Finland's policies as she commented on the letter to the STT news outlet.

“Our foreign and security policies in the Middle East are based on human rights, democracy, the rule of law and equality,” she said.

Noting that Finland is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Valtone said: “There is no doubt that Finland is prepared to condemn and would like to condemn the perpetrators of — regardless of who the perpetrator is — all of these crimes.”

She stressed that Finland has consistently condemned Israel's actions in illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 has mounted to 23,469, the Health Ministry in Gaza said on Thursday.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, in October which Tel Aviv says killed around 1,200 in Israel.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of the population in the enclave is food insecure, according to the UN.

Hundreds of thousands of residents are living without shelter and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.