HOSPITALS STRUGGLE AMID ONGOING ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25, (Agencies): Member of Kuwait’s National Assembly’s Caucus MP Hamad Al-Obaid has said an emergency proposal submitted by Kuwait and other countries regarding the Palestinian issue received 607 votes from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) members. Al-Obaid described the voting result as “an achievement and a clear message that the peoples of the world stand against the fierce attacks of the Zionist aggression on Gaza and occupied Palestinian territories.”

This came in a statement by the Kuwaiti Member of Parliament to Kuwait Television late Tuesday following the 147th Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference held in the Angolan capital, Luanda, which witnessed a vote on the proposals presented as emergency items. “We have just finished voting on the emergency proposal submitted by the State of Kuwait, along with Algeria, which includes a cessation of war, shooting, and human rights violations in Gaza and occupied Palestine,” he added. The representative went on to say, “the Arab Group adopted this proposal and it was submitted to the Islamic Group, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Indonesia, and South Africa joined it,” adding that Pakistan and Malaysia withdrew their proposals they had submitted.

Due to the coordination, “we managed to gather votes for our proposal,” Al-Obaid noted, adding that this is a clear message to the world that parliamentarians support the cease-fire on the Gaza Strip and the suspension of attacks.” The proposal gained 607 votes, compared with 507 votes for the European suggestion, but it did not qualify as an emergency item because the IPU regulations stipulate that emergency proposals must obtain a two-thirds majority.

Representative Al-Obaid stressed the proposal presented by Kuwait was a clear message to the world that the countries and peoples of the world stand against the ferocious attacks on children and the defenseless in occupied Palestine. “This is a message that we, as peoples, conveyed to the world, and there are other messages and steps to deter the brutal Zionist aggression,” he added. Meanwhile, the third Kuwaiti Gaza relief aid plane landed in Al- Arish international airport in Egypt on Wednesday carrying 40 tons of urgent humanitarian aid and medical supplies for Palestinians in Gaza.

The shipment includes medical supplies such as solutions, medicine, ultrasound devices as well as others, said a member of Kuwait Red Crescent Society Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami to KUNA. The shipment, which is a continuation of successive shipments of the Kuwaiti air bridge will be received by the Egyptian Red Crescent, which in turn will deliver it to the Palestinian Red Crescent through the Rafah border crossing, added Al-Shami.

The first Kuwaiti Gaza relief aid plane arrived two days ago at Al- Arish airport carrying 40 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies plus ambulance cars and was followed by another the day after carrying 10 tons of supplies. In New York, Kuwait’s permanent envoy to the UN Ambassador Tareq Al-Bannai reiterated the necessity to end the Israeli war on Gaza immediately. This came during his speech on Wednesday in the open session of the UN Security Council titled “Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Issue.”

The Kuwaiti ambassador stressed on the need to work with the international community for immediate effective action in accordance to international law. He said that Kuwait appealed to the international community to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land and warn against any attempts to displace them, within the framework of a final comprehensive solution to the conflict in line with international legitimacy.

The dangerous military escalation witnessed today against Palestinians through targeting unarmed civilians with air raids and cutting off electricity, water and food is “something unacceptable to any religion, law or even human nature,” said Al-Bannai. “This Council has been a safe haven for small, peace-loving countries,” recalling that the Council was the UN organization that restored international and legal legitimacy to “a country small in size and as great in its giving as my country Kuwait, when it was invaded in 1990,” he noted. Furthermore, Al-Bannai pointed out that the Security Council has failed to have a clear stand against the continuous human violations against the Palestinian people, and affirmed that the current situation requires extraordinary speeches. He renewed Kuwait’s call for comprehensive peace through the resolutions approved in this Council according to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 to establish the independent, sovereign State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. In his conclusion, he pointed out that Kuwait is a pioneer in supporting the fair Palestinian cause, and their people’s needs politically, humanitarian and morally. He expressed his pride in Kuwait’s announcement in creating Air Bridge to Palestine, carrying tons of humanitarian aid and relief as per directions of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In latest development, the U.N. agency for Palestinian Refugees warned Wednesday that without immediate deliveries of fuel, it will soon have to sharply curtail relief operations across the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded and devastated by Israeli airstrikes since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel more than two weeks ago.

The warning came as hospitals in Gaza struggled to treat masses of wounded with dwindling resources. Health officials said the death toll was soaring as Israeli jets pounded the territory overnight into Wednesday. The Health Ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, said airstrikes killed more than 750 people over the past 24 hours. Officials did not give a breakdown of how many killed were militants. The Associated Press could not independently verify the death tolls cited by Hamas, which says it tallies figures from hospital directors.

The Israeli military said its strikes killed militants and destroyed tunnels, command centers, weapons storehouses, and other military targets. It accuses Hamas of magnifying the suffering of Gazan civilians by hiding among them. Hamas and other militants have launched unrelenting rocket barrages into Israel since the conflict started.

The rising death toll in Gaza - following a reported 704 killed the day before - was unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even greater loss of life could come if Israel launches an expected ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas militants. The U.N. says about 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now internally displaced, with nearly half of them crowded into U.N. shelters.