By Burak Bir
MUNICH, Germany (AA) – Bangladesh’s prime minister said that what is happening in Gaza now is genocide, stressing that the Palestinian people have the right to live and have their own state.
In an interview with Anadolu on Saturday, Sheikh Hasina stressed that Bangladesh has always stood against genocide, adding that as for what is happening in Gaza, "I feel it is a genocide. So we never support it."
"The Gazan people have the right to live, it is a very sad thing. So we should help them, and stop this invasion and war," she said, speaking on the sidelines of the 60th Munich Security Conference in the German city of the same name.
Saying that Bangladesh has sent assistance to people in the besieged enclave, Hasina called on the world to support and help "the suffering children, women, and people of Palestine."
Asked about the planned Israeli operation on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, she said they have never supported such an offensive.
"Palestinian people should have the right to have their own state, that is clear," Hasina stressed, adding that the UN resolutions for a two-state solution “should be implemented."
Some 1.5 million Palestinians previously displaced by Israel's offensive on Gaza are holed up in Rafah, seeking refuge from hostilities that have laid waste to wide swathes of Palestinian territory.
Israel's reported plans for an offensive on the city have sounded international alarm bells, with many countries urging restraint or cancelation of the operation.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in 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.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. The ensuing Israeli attack has killed at least 28,663 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory'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.