ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned the renewed Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, which have led to the killing of more than 400 Palestinians and injury of hundreds others.
Baghdad’s foreign ministry expressed in a statement “Iraq’s strongest condemnation and denunciation of the renewed brutal military operations carried out by the Israeli entity against unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
As of the time of this report, the Palestinian health ministry reported that 429 Palestinians had been killed and 528 others injured since the beginning of the Israeli operations on Tuesday.
The Iraqi foreign ministry decried the high number of casualties, “the majority of whom were children and women,” and urged the international community “to act swiftly to put an end to the grave violations of humanitarian and international laws” while safeguarding Palestinian civilians, who “are being directly targeted.”
Baghdad reiterated Iraq’s “unwavering support” for the Palestinians in “their just plight to achieve freedom and fulfill their legitimate rights,” including “their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent [Palestinian] state.”
In an interview with Iraq’s state-run al-Iraqiya channel aired on Monday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein revealed that Israel had also threatened to target Iraq.
“The Zionist threats to target Iraq were clear, and our constitution, government, and interests prevent us from making the decision [to go to] war,” the top diplomat stated, noting that Baghdad had “conducted calls with Washington and other states to sideline Iraq from the Zionist strikes.”
Commenting on recent reports about a potential Israeli attack on Iraq’s eastern neighbour, Iran, Hussein also expressed concern over the possible repercussions such attacks could have on Iraq due to its geographical proximity.
The renewed Israeli operations mark a significant setback for the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas.
The ceasefire went into effect in mid-January, following 15 months of war between the two sides which began after Hamas launched a large-scale incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures.
Israel responded with a massive offensive in Gaza, killing more than 46,000 people, mostly Palestinian civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, announced on Tuesday that four of its government officials were killed in the latest round of violence, describing the Israeli attacks as a unilateral cancellation of the ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu and his extremist government are making a decision to overturn the ceasefire agreement, exposing prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” Hamas said in a statement, referring to people captured in southern Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks.
Of the 251 people seized and taken into Gaza during the October 7 attacks, more than 130 hostages have been released. The Israeli military has recovered the bodies of at least 40 others. Fewer than half of the remaining 59 hostages are believed to be alive, according to the Israeli government.
Tel Aviv said on Tuesday that “Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force,” noting that the attacks were ordered after Hamas “repeatedly refused to release our hostages as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received” from the US and its mediators.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on Tuesday, “We will not stop fighting as long as the hostages are not returned home and all our war aims are not achieved.”
