Gaza is 'an integral part' of Palestine: Palestinian president

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Gaza is “an integral part" of the Palestinian state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday.

Abbas met with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, where they discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and efforts to immediately stop the war, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

"The president reiterated the firm rejection of the State of Palestine to the displacement of any Palestinian citizen whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, stressing that Gaza is an integral part of the Palestinian state and any plans of the (Israeli) occupation authorities to separate the Gaza Strip from the rest of Palestinian land and to seize any inch of its land or reoccupy it are unacceptable," it said.

Turning to the UN Security Council’s recent passage of a resolution on a Gaza cease-fire, Abbas emphasized the importance of implementing it.

The UN Security Council on Monday passed a resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on March 11 and is set to end on April 9.

Fourteen council members voted in favor of the resolution presented by 10 elected members of the body while the US abstained.

Abbas also called on the international community to coordinate efforts to deliver humanitarian, relief and medical aid to Gaza via all crossings to put an end to the famine inflicted upon Palestinians there as a result of the ongoing "savage aggression," according to WAFA.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.