Al-Mawasi massacre: Wide international and Arab condemnations of Israel’s continued targeting of civilians

The massacre of Mawasi Khan Yunis, committed by the occupation army at dawn on Tuesday, which resulted in at least 40 martyrs and 60 wounded according to the Civil Defense in Gaza, was widely condemned by the international and Arab world.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, condemned today, Tuesday, saying in a statement, “I strongly condemn today’s deadly airstrikes by Israel on a densely populated area, in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, where displaced people were taking shelter.”

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said during a joint press conference in London with his US counterpart, Anthony Blinken, on Tuesday that the "shocking" Israeli raid shows the need for a ceasefire, saying: "We are meeting at a critical moment to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, and the shocking deaths in Khan Younis this morning reinforce the urgent need for this ceasefire."

Norway condemned the massacre, with Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide saying in a post on the X platform on Tuesday that all parties are obligated to protect civilians, and called for not violating international humanitarian law.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also condemned in the strongest terms Israel's killing of dozens of Palestinians by targeting civilian tents in a supposedly "safe" area in Khan Yunis.

For its part, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday: “We condemn the targeting of Mawasi Khan Yunis in a new attack in a series of repeated violations by the Israeli war machine against defenseless civilians.”

Palestine condemned the massacre and considered it a reflection of the international failure to stop the war of genocide and displacement. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that "the heinous massacre is an escalation of the war of genocide and displacement as an unending series of massacres, and as an official Israeli policy that is determined to transform the entire Gaza Strip into an empty land unfit for human life."

American bombs

In the same context, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a statement on Tuesday that Israeli warplanes dropped 3 American-made MK-84 bombs on the Mawasi area of ​​Khan Yunis, which led to the burial of about 20 tents of displaced people and those inside them.

The Observatory added that the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against the displaced people in dilapidated tents in the area it declared "humanitarian" in "Mawasi Khan Yunis" in the southern Gaza Strip, is additional evidence that the international silence on the crime of genocide against the Palestinians for 11 months, and the failure to express appropriate positions regarding the mass killings, encourages Israel to commit more of these crimes.

He pointed out that Washington is a partner in the crime of Mawasi Khan Yunis, as it supplies the Israeli occupation army with weapons and destructive bombs. He warned that this massacre comes a month after the bloody massacre committed by the occupation army when it bombed the "Al-Tabi'in" school in Gaza City, killing more than 100 Palestinians.

On Tuesday morning, the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza announced the martyrdom of 40 Palestinians and the injury of 60 others in the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against the tents of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area. It explained that "there are more than 200 tents in the targeted area, and between 20 and 40 tents were completely damaged by the bombing."

With American support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, leaving about 136,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

In contempt of the international community, Israel continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.