IranPalestine

NAM urges end to Israel blockade on Palestinian territories

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Speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Iranian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Gholam-Hossein Dehqani has called for an end to the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territories.

The Islamic republic holds the rotating presidency of NAM.

“NAM condemns the Israeli blockade, which constitutes a gross and systematic collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Dehqani said.

The Iranian diplomat made the remarks on Tuesday at a UN Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East.

He said that, following Israel’s recent war on the Gaza Strip, the situation in the coastal enclave has worsened as the entire territory is in ruins, thousands of people remain homeless, food insecurity is rampant and injured civilians continue to die due to the lack of life-saving medical treatments and basic medicines.

“In this… international year of solidarity with the Palestinian people, … NAM reiterates its call for intensifying international efforts to actively advance the peaceful, just and lasting solution [to the Palestinian issue] based on the long-standing parameters rooted in the relevant UN resolutions and major initiatives undertaken in the past decade,” the Iranian envoy said.

Israel maintains occupation over Palestinian territories, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem). The Gaza Strip has also been blockaded by Israel since June 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

Dehqani also said that the root causes of the terror threats posed by terrorist groups, including the ISIL, lie in Israel’s ongoing occupation policies in the Middle East region.

Israel launched its latest war on Gaza on July 8. The nearly two-month war on Gaza killed over 2,130 Palestinians, including around 570 children, and left some 11,000 injured. Tens of Israelis were also killed in the war.

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