<\/p>\n
As heavy Israeli bombardments continued to hit the Palestinian enclave on Thursday, dozens of the United Nations\u2019 rights experts said Israel\u2019s bombardment of the Gaza Strip \u201camounts to collective punishment\u201d.<\/p>\n
The statement comes after Israel imposed a \u201ctotal siege\u201d<\/a> to stop food and fuel from reaching the enclave of 2.3 million people, many poor and dependent on aid in response to a surprise Hamas offensive on Saturday that left 1,200 Israelis dead, according to officials.<\/p>\n In retaliatory air and artillery strikes, Israeli forces have flattened entire neighbourhoods, hospitals and schools in Gaza, killing 1,200 Palestinians since Saturday, and displacing more than 338,000. Yesterday, electricity went out after the only power station stopped working<\/a>.<\/p>\n While condemning the \u201chorrific crimes committed by Hamas\u201d, the group said that Israel had resorted to \u201cindiscriminate military attacks against the already exhausted Palestinian people of Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years, and already gone through five major brutal wars, which remain unaccounted for,\u201d the group, which includes several UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis amounts to collective punishment. There is no justification for violence that indiscriminately targets innocent civilians, whether by Hamas or Israeli forces. This is absolutely prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n The group said that taking hostages in the context of hostilities also constituted a war crime.<\/p>\n \u201cThe civilians taken by Hamas must be immediately released, pending which their fate and whereabouts must be disclosed,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n Pakistan strongly condemned the \u201cindiscriminate and disproportionate\u201d use of force by Israeli authorities against the civilian population in Gaza and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.<\/p>\n Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch said in her weekly press briefing that Pakistan was deeply concerned by the fast deteriorating and dire humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the \u201cinhumane blockade and collective punishment by Israeli forces\u201d.<\/p>\n The FO spokesperson said that the decision to cut off electricity, fuel and water supplies was \u201cunjust and should be reversed as it would severely impact the lives of millions of people in the enclave\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current cycle of aggression and violence is a sad reminder and a direct consequence of over seven decades of illegal foreign occupation, aggression and disrespect for international law, including UNSC resolutions that recognise the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The FO spokesperson said Pakistan had been constantly warning against serious consequences of Israel\u2019s \u201cescalatory and provocative actions in recent months\u201d. She said the \u201cunprecedented gravity of the situation demands urgent intervention by the international community\u201d.<\/p>\n Pakistan urged the United Nations to play a proactive role in facilitating a ceasefire to alleviate the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cThe international community must work in concert for a just comprehensive and lasting two-state solution with a viable, sovereign and contiguous state of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital. Peace in the Middle East will remain elusive in the absence of such a solution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n US State Secretary Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday as part of a Middle East tour to show Washington\u2019s solidarity with Israel and to work to prevent the conflict from widening.<\/p>\n Blinken will also try to help secure the release of hostages allegedly kidnapped by Hamas some of whom are Americans and advance talks with Israelis and Egyptians on providing a safe passage of Gaza civilians out of the enclave before a possible Israeli ground invasion.<\/p>\n Pakistan condemns \u2018indiscriminate, disproportionate\u2019 Israeli force against Palestinians<\/h2>\n
Blinken lands in Israel<\/h2>\n