By Press TV website
The Israeli regime acts with impunity with the complicity of the United States, says the Cuban ambassador to Tehran, adding that every moment of impunity for action, passivity, double standards or silence will cost more innocent lives in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In an interview with the Press TV website, Alberto Gonzalez Casals, the ambassador of Cuba to the Islamic Republic to Iran, said a ceasefire must be made immediately and the war rhetoric must end.
He said the international community must put pressure on the US government so that “it does not continue to paralyze the (UN) Security Council using the undemocratic and obsolete power of the veto” in order to protect its ally in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli regime continues to bombard the densely-populated civilian areas in the besieged Gaza Strip two weeks since the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance movement launched what it called the ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ (also known as Al-Aqsa Flood) operation as a response to daily Israeli atrocities.
The death toll in the besieged coastal strip has surged to more than 4,500 people, mostly children, with hospitals teeming with critically wounded patients and people displaced by the genocide.
Casals said in order to end the Israeli aggression in Gaza, the tenth emergency special session of the UN General Assembly must be held and its main priority must be to “achieve a cessation of violence, a ceasefire and to promote the provision of urgent and sufficient humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people”
Commenting on the aid that entered the besieged strip from the Rafah Crossing on Saturday morning, the Cuban envoy said access for only 20 trucks is an “insult to those in need.”
“Emergency humanitarian aid must be urgently mobilized, under the coordination of the United Nations, to address the catastrophic situation in Gaza,” he asserted.
He said Cuba will “support and contribute in everything within its power to legitimate international efforts in order to put an end to the current situation.”
On how the support of Western states has emboldened the Israeli regime to commit horrendous war crimes in Gaza, Casals said the UN Security Council “has not even been able to call to stop the ongoing massacre” in the besieged territory.
“This week, the United States government vetoed a proposal in that body that merely called for a humanitarian pause in the confrontation to allow aid access to Gaza and guarantee the protection of civilians,” he remarked.
“The US used the pretext that it was premature. It was a resolution that did not even call for a ceasefire, but only for a humanitarian pause that would allow aid to be delivered to the civilian population of Gaza under indiscriminate and criminal aggression.”
The US on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza.
The Cuban ambassador said the decision was not only regrettable but also dangerous.
“However, it doesn’t surprise anyone. The United States government has historically been complicit and responsible for Israel’s impunity for its historically committed crimes when it has obstructed Security Council action regarding Palestine and undermined peace and stability in the Middle East,” he stated.
He also warned against the Israeli plan to launch the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, saying it would have “unpredictable consequences”, noting that the impunity with which Israel acts can only be explained by its confidence that it will not have to face consequences for its actions and that it has the support of the US government and its other NATO allies.
Casals said Cuba “condemns in the strongest terms, the murders of civilians, especially women, children and humanitarian workers of the United Nations system; the indiscriminate bombings against the population in Gaza and the destruction of homes, hospitals and civil infrastructure; as well as the deprivation of water, food, electricity and fuel services to the population of Gaza.”
These acts, he hastened to add, have worsened the “precarious humanitarian situation resulting from the blockade of the Gaza Strip and constitute flagrant violations of International Humanitarian Law.”
“Nothing can justify such actions, which constitute collective punishment, serious violations of International Humanitarian Law and war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he noted.
The Cuban ambassador further stated that Cuba “reiterates its invariable solidarity with the Palestinian and Arab cause” and “advocates the search for a prompt solution through negotiation, which stops this escalation of violence and its very serious humanitarian consequences.”
“We reiterate our deep concern about the escalation of violence on the ground, a consequence of 75 years of Israeli practices of illegal occupation and colonization, in flagrant violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in their own territory,” he said.
“As well as the prolonged disrespect for the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and International Law, including numerous relevant UN resolutions.”
