'Move beyond blame game,' Kashmiri scholars tell UN, world powers about Gaza

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Kashmir's top religious scholars’ group, Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema, demanded that the UN and world powers move beyond words Wednesday and act to end the suffering of Palestinians.

“People of Jammu and Kashmir are deeply saddened and pained by this unfolding tragedy and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine,” said the group, led by pro-freedom and religious leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

It condemned the massacre of Palestinians at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza late Tuesday and said it was “a blatant war crime under the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions.”

“People of Palestine are being collectively punished by Israel and all their human rights have been snatched from them,” it said in a statement.

The Kashmiri scholars demanded immediate action to halt the tragedy in Gaza and urged world powers to “recognize the humanitarian crisis.”​​​​​​​

The scholars urged the UN and world powers “to move beyond the blame game and partisanship, and see what is happening in Gaza for what it is - humanitarian crisis.”

“Ensure that the war against hapless Palestinian citizens is stopped and a resolution to this long-term conflict is immediately sought, restoring the rights of the Palestinian people to their life and land,” the scholars said.

They also urged Muslim countries to “unite and stand with the Palestinian people and ensure they get justice.”

The disputed regions' former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed "shock" in a separate statement about the innocent killings at the hospital.

"This is a tragic reminder of what must have happened during the Holocaust. Perhaps the only difference is that the very community that the victims belonged to are now the oppressors and gas chambers have been replaced by bombs," she wrote on X.

“Half of the world’s terrorism is a reaction to the unresolved issue of Palestine. Will the powers that be continue being mute bystanders or wake up to the grim reality so that innocents arent killed anymore?” she wrote.

More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital late Tuesday, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Anadolu.

Footage on social media showed bodies scattered across the hospital grounds.

Thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment, according to an Anadolu reporter.