By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said on Friday that "peace and security in the region cannot be achieved without ending Israel's aggression and occupation of Palestine."
Mustafa's remarks were made during his address at a ministerial meeting on Gaza and the implementation of the "two-state solution," held in New York on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
"Achieving peace and security in the region will only happen when Israel ends its aggression and occupation," Mustafa said.
He urged the international community to act swiftly to "halt the genocide in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the aggression on Lebanon."
The prime minister called for a concerted effort to "stop the aggression, end the war of extermination, lift the blockade on Gaza, and recognize the state of Palestine."
He stressed the importance of "supporting Palestine's full membership in the UN, implementing the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and upholding relevant UN resolutions while providing political, financial, and economic support to aid and relieve the population in Gaza."
On July 19, during a session in The Hague, the ICJ ruled that the occupied Palestinian territories constitute a "single territorial unit" that must be protected and respected. The court further stated that Israeli policies and practices amount to the annexation of large parts of these territories, dismissing any justification for Israel’s extension of its laws to include the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Mustafa emphasized the need to "end the suffering of the Palestinian people," adding, "Our rights as a nation, our human rights, including the right to self-determination, return, life, freedom, and dignity, must be respected."
Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
More than 41,500 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and more than 96,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara