Gaza humanitarian crisis: 27 eminent citizens express deep concern

Twenty-seven eminent citizens of the country, in a statement, have expressed deep concern over the attacks on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.

Children, women, and common people are being subjected to attacks in the besieged Gaza, and the humanitarian crisis has reached an extreme level due to the suspension of the supply of all essential commodities, including electricity and water, they said in the statement.

We believe that the persecution, torture, and killing of innocent people are gross violations of human rights, reads the statement.

"The state of Israel was created by expelling Palestinians from their homeland. Since then, residents who have been subjected to a series of killings and abuses have continued to live as refugees on their own land. They have been forced to move out of the entire territory and live in Gaza areas... There, too, Israel is engaged in new settlements, ignoring UN resolutions. Unfortunately, Israel continues to receive full support from Western countries and the media in these misdeeds," stated the statement.

"We oppose all kinds of killings. We believe that the silent role of the world, including neighbouring Arabs, in the face of long-standing deprivation has inspired Palestinian fighters to wage an armed war. Nevertheless, Hamas forces' indiscriminate attacks on civilians, installations, and people from different countries in Israel are also unwarranted. The current intolerable situation should be considered not as a recent event but as a resistance to the continuation of overall deprivation," the statement said.

On the contrary, the inhuman activities engaged in by the Israeli government are unacceptable under any circumstances, the statement said, demanding an immediate end to this crisis and a permanent solution to the problem through the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Signatories of the statement include former caretaker government advisors Sultana Kamal and Rasheda K Choudhury; Sammilita Samajik Andolon president Prof Syed Anwar Husain and presidium member Ramendu Majumdar; Liberation War museum trustee Dr Sarwar Ali; Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Dr Fauzia Moslem; Prof Dr Rashid-E-Mahbub, former president of the Bangladesh Medical Association; Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad general secretary Rana Dasgupta; Dhaka University professor MM Akash, and Dipayan Khisha, central member of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, among others.