Venezuela FM calls Israeli war on Gaza 'extermination', 'genocide'
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Venezuelan foreign minister Yvan Gil expressed during a press conference that the only way to end the conflict is to establish a Palestinian state supported by the UN Security Council.
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Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto speaks during a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023 (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil of Venezuela stated on Thursday that his country opposes the "genocide" and "extermination" that "Israel" is committing against the Palestinian people.
After a meeting with Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Yvan Gil expressed during a press conference that the only way to end the conflict is to establish a Palestinian state supported by the UN Security Council.
Gil stressed "We have already made a demand for an immediate cease-fire in order to move on to negotiations. We see that the extermination of the Palestinian people is being carried out by Israel. It's unbearable. And the international community will not tolerate this."
Supporting the resolutions of the joint Arab-Islamic summit held in Riyadh regarding Gaza, Gil called on the world community "to mobilize its forces to support the Palestinian people."
Gil accused the Israeli occupation of violating human rights and international legislation "every day" by bombing hospitals and civilian infrastructure, stressing that this policy should end "immediately," with a focus on condemning the "perpetrators of war crimes."
He further assserted that Gazans and Palestinians "should have the right to exercise their right to independence and gain their land."
The Venezuelan foreign minister is echoing statements made by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday when he expressed that Palestine was a victim of genocide, calling on the world on X, to reach a peace agreement in Palestine that would stop the war.
He stressed that only by standing together would the global community be able to end the suffering of people in Palestine, calling on the world to end the brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Earlier, Maduro pointed out that "Israel" is bombing hospitals in Gaza, killing patients, the wounded, and people left homeless, accusing it of instilling " an ideology even more dangerous than Nazism, initially targeting the Palestinian people and subsequently affecting Arab, Islamic, and Christian communities."
Lavrov emphasizes situation in West Bank
Lavrov, for his part, berated the UN Security Council for failing to back the General Assembly's demand for an immediate end to hostilities in the Gaza Strip, insisting that an immediate end be put to the bloodshed.
The minister drew attention to the disregard for the situation in the Palestinian territory, claiming that raids there are also occurring and that scores of people are being killed.
Lavrov restated Russia's position that, after hostilities end and humanitarian concerns are met, peace negotiations should be held to establish a state for the Palestinian people.
"It will be difficult to do this (to establish a Palestinian state), because if we look at a map, we'll see that very little is left of territories meant for the establishment of the Palestinian state, especially in the West Bank of the Jordan River," Lavrov expressed.
He emphasized that Israeli settlements are unrecognized by any country and pose an issue for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Russian foreign minister also criticized France for obtaining an arrest warrant for Bashar Al-Assad, the President of Syria, calling the Western legal system biased and accusing France of being one of the "main initiators and performers" in the 2011 aggression against Libya.
