Iran Exercises Parliamentary Diplomacy to Defend Gaza
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi called for collective efforts by the legislatures of the Islamic countries to support people of Gaza against Israel’s military strikes.
Boroujerdi has sent a letter to his counterparts in the parliaments of Muslim nations, emphasizing the need for “coordination among the Islamic countries” to support the people of Gaza, the parliamentary commission's rapporteur Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told the Tasnim News Agency on Monday.
Naqavi Hosseini underlined that the parliament will “exploit its whole diplomatic potentials” to support the defenseless residents of the besieged Gaza Strip against Israel.
In another move to show support for Palestinians, 210 Iranian lawmakers on Sunday signed a statement which condemned Israel’s “brutal crimes” against people of Gaza and called for an immediate action by the international bodies to stop the slaughter of the Palestinians.
The statement also urged the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to defend the innocent people of Gaza against Israel.
Israel has launched a new wave of military strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip after tensions raged between Palestinians and Israelis following the burning alive of a Palestinian teen in East al-Quds by Israeli settlers.
16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s death sparked a wave of protests across the Palestinian territories earlier this month.
It came a few days after the Israeli military found the dead bodies of three settler teenagers who had been allegedly kidnapped in the occupied West Bank.
Israel was quick to point the finger of blame at the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The resistance group, however, strongly rejected the allegations, saying Tel Aviv, which was outraged with the formation of a Palestinian unity government, was looking for a pretext to launch a new aggression against the people of the Gaza Strip.
Death toll from the Israeli attacks targeting different parts of the besieged Gaza Strip since July 8 has reached to over 170, with another 1,230 Palestinians wounded.
As the death toll rose, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said most of the victims were civilians, putting their number at more than 130, among them 35 children and 26 women.
It also said Israel had destroyed 147 homes and badly damaged hundreds of others.