The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an international humanitarian organization, has strongly criticized the Israeli regime and its allies for launching and helping the ongoing brutal war on Gaza, saying the massive civilian death toll that has resulted from the aggression is a stain on their reputation.
“Countries supporting Israel with arms must understand that these civilian deaths will be a permanent stain on their reputation. They must demand an immediate ceasefire,” said NRC’s Secretary General Jan Egeland in a statement on Tuesday.
Egeland said the civilian deaths caused by the Israeli war on Gaza have been unprecedented in the living memory.
“The pulverizing of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age. Each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell,” he said.
The NRC has a reputation as being one of the world’s most influential rights group and is currently operating in Palestine.
The group said Israel’s indiscriminate targeting of the civilian population in Gaza can in no way be justified as an act of self-defense against Gaza’s Hamas fighters as it has been claimed by Western allies of the regime.
“The killing of thousands of innocent children and women, the siege on an entire civilian population, and the trapping of bombarded civilians behind closed borders in Gaza are also crimes under international law … This military campaign can in no way be described as ‘self-defense,’” said the group.
It said that political and military leaders as well as those who provided arms and support to Israel must have accountability for what is happening in Gaza.
Nearly 16,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed in Israel’s aggression on Gaza since October 7 when Hamas launched an attack on Israeli occupied territories, killing 1,400 settlers and military personnel.
