Iran Calls on World Community to Force Israel to Halt Settlement Construction

Iranian Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva Seyed Mohammad Reza Sajjadi called for immediate and practical measures by the international community to pressure Israel to abide by its undertakings and halt settlement construction activities in Palestinian territories.

Sajjadi made the remarks at an official UN meeting held on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinians in Geneva on Saturday.

“The international community should strive to force the Zionist regime to abide by its international undertakings, halt settlement construction activities and destroy the racist wall of separation surrounding the Gaza Strip,” Sajjadi said.

Meantime, he condemned the recent Israeli attacks on the defenseless people in the Gaza Strip, which killed and wounded large groups of the oppressed Palestinians, including women and children.

“The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) strongly condemns this action and asks the international community, specially the UN Security Council, to comply with its duties and responsibilities and adopt the necessary measures in this regard at the earliest,” said Sajjadi, whose country chairs the NAM.

Israel triggered an 8-day fighting by assassinating the military chief of the ruling Hamas group on November 14 followed by dozens of airstrikes on Gaza.

In response, Palestinian groups fired over 1,500 missiles and rockets at Israel.

Palestinian resistance groups targeted Tel Aviv and areas near Jerusalem for the first time in the history of confrontations between the two sides, launching a rocket attack in a major escalation of hostilities as Israel pressed forward with relentless airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Israel called up thousands of reservists and massed troops along the border with Gaza, signaling a ground invasion of the densely populated seaside strip could be imminent.

But the attack on the Israeli settlement, along with an earlier strike on Zionists’ capital Tel Aviv, frightened the Israeli regime, making it drop its aggression plans and ask for third party mediation.

Eventually, a Cairo-mediated ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Wednesday November 21, ended the Israeli attacks, which killed more than 165 Palestinians and injured about 1,269 others.

Based on figures, over 25% of the death toll during the recent war in the enclave pertained to innocent Gazan children.