KUWAIT CITY, Oct 6, (Agencies): The State of Kuwait is steadfast in its efforts to support the Palestinian cause through the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with east Jerusalem as its capital, said a diplomat on Sunday. Speaking to KUNA after a symposium on Gaza held at the Saud Al-Nasser Al-Sabah Kuwaiti Diplomatic Institute, Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs at the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Ahmad Al-Bakr said that the Palestinian cause was a priority for Kuwait and was a standing issue that would hopefully end with Palestinians gaining full rights and an independent state with eastern Jerusalem as capital.

Kuwait always supports the cause in all regional and international participation, he affirmed, adding that the current year-long brutal Israeli occupation campaign against the Gaza Strip must stop and end in a ceasefire. He stressed that protecting the Palestinian people, freeing their prisoners, and establishing an independent state were all but a few demands that the Palestinians deserved. He warned that the harrowing situation in the region, due to the Israeli aggressors, might lead to grave consequences. On his part, Mazen AboulHosn -- IOM Chief of Mission in Kuwait -- told KUNA that recent UN reports revealed that over 1.9 million people were internally displaced in Gaza, adding that the number might be far greater than what was reported.

The IOM official deemed the happenings in Gaza as catastrophic especially with 70 percent of infrastructure in Gaza already collapsed. With the number of operating hospitals at 16 and casualties numbers reaching over 41,000 deaths and 96,000 injured, the whole image could only be described as bleak, he said. According to what was occurring daily, Matters would only get worse with no intervention by the UN, the international community, and key parties, AboulHosn said, indicating that abiding by international law was the only way to prevent the situation from worsening. Also providing similar statements, the head of the executive committee of The Kuwait Society for Relief (KSR), Jamal Al-Nouri revealed that the KSR had spent last year and during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip around USD 21 million to help in the relief aid efforts, pointing out that over 6,000 tons of material managed to reach Gaza.

He said that the KSR teams managed to enter Gaza on two occasions early this April delivering 10 tons of medical aid and medicine in addition to performing 420 surgeries in Gaza’s hospitals. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassim Al-Budaiwi, renewed his call on Sunday for the international community to assume its responsibilities and take immediate action to stop the dangerous Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the GCC Chief said that after a full year since the start of the military operations of the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian, security and economic situation in the Strip has further deteriorated, which requires the international community to take urgent steps and immediate measures to stop the brutal Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people and end the military escalation. He also stressed the need to protect civilians, including relief and humanitarian workers who face grave risks while carrying out their humanitarian duties. Al-Budaiwi expressed the GCC countries’ firm and supportive position on the Palestinian cause and support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, following the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant United Nations resolutions. Elsewhere, an Israeli strike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip early Sunday killed at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said, as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region.

Israel is still battling Hamas a year after the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began. Israel has vowed to strike Iran itself after Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have already joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.

A stabbing and shooting attack at the central bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba left one person dead and 10 wounded, according to first responders. Police did not identify the assailant but said they were treating it as a terror attack. The attack came as Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events marking the Oct. 7 attack, which set in motion a year of violent escalation across the region.