Palestine slams Peru for allowing citizens to fight alongside Israel in Gaza

By Awad Rjoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian Foreign Ministry criticized Peru on Saturday for allowing its citizens to fight with the Israeli army in its war on Gaza.

This statement followed Peru's condolences for a soldier killed during the war.

In a tweet on its official account, Peru's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday: “The Peruvian government regrets the death of Yuval Lopez, a Peruvian-Israeli citizen who served as a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces.”

Palestine, in its statement, interpreted Peru's acknowledgment as “permitting its citizens to participate in the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This was seen through the case of Israeli soldier Yuval Lopez, who held both Peruvian and Israeli citizenships, and the Peruvian government expressed condolences for his death.”

The Palestinian ministry said it expected Peru to “revoke the citizenship of its citizens who hold Israeli citizenship and are involved in the conflict, instead of offering condolences after their deaths and praising them.“

Palestine considered “these times crucial in determining countries' actual positions on humanity, commitment to international law, and humanitarian law.”

Furthermore, Palestine renewed its call for all countries to “verify the citizenship status of individuals in the Israeli state and the possibility of their participation in these crimes.”

It emphasized that the involvement of citizens of these countries in the aggression on Gaza means their direct participation in this attack against the Palestinian people.

There has been no immediate response from Peru to the statement from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.

Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 26,257 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 64,797 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

​​​​​​​The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.​​​​​​​