Lars Lokke Rasmussen slammed Israel for its disproportionate response to the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7, highlighting the high human price of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Monday that Israel went overboard with its one-year-old war on the besieged Gaza Strip, slamming Tel Aviv for defying the international community, Anadolu news agency reported.
“I think that this (war) should have been stopped a long time ago with a cease-fire,” he was quoted as saying by the national broadcaster DR.
The Danish foreign minister accused Israel of carrying a disproportionate response to Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7, accentuating the high human price of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.
“We have voted for a cease-fire in the UN and argued for it in the EU. A cease-fire that could lead to the release of the hostages, that humanitarian aid could enter Gaza, and that could be the starting point for a negotiation track that could lead to a free Palestine next to Israel,” Lars Lokke Rasmussen stressed.
The Danish foreign minister attributed the failure of a ceasefire to materialize to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who he said, “rejected the appeal” Anadolu said.
Rasmussen emphasized that Netanyahu’s government continues to defy the world on the issue and “has not yet listened sufficiently to the international community, including all of Israel’s friends led by the United States.” he said.
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Action Plan for Ceasefire
Following the United Nations Security Council’s adoption of a resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on June 10, Denmark was amongst various other countries that welcomed the move.
“Important UN Security Council supports action plan for ceasefire,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on X.
He said it “Sends a strong signal that the international community agrees on a way forward, where e.g. release of the hostages, a permanent ceasefire and reconstruction of Gaza are central.”
Arms Embargo on Israel
Earlier in March, four NGOs said they would take legal action against Denmark to stop the country’s exports of weapons and military equipment to Israel.
Amnesty International Denmark, Oxfam Denmark, MS Action Aid and the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq said they will file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish National Police within the next three weeks.
With the lawsuit, the organizations “want the courts to assess whether the exports violate the rules on arms trade to which Denmark has committed itself,” Amnesty International said in a statement on March 12.
Denmark ‘Must in No Way’ Contribute to War Crimes – NGOs to Sue Danish State
For five months we have been talking about a potential genocide in Gaza, but we have not seen politicians take action,” stated Tim Whyte, Secretary General of MS Action Aid.
Whyte said Denmark “should not be sending weapons to Israel when there is a reasonable suspicion that it is committing war crimes in Gaza. We need to get the court’s word on Denmark’s responsibility.”
Denmark has joined both the UN Arms Trade Treaty and the EU Common Rules for Arms Exports, which obliges Denmark to ensure that exports of weapons and military equipment from Danish companies do not risk contributing to violations of international law, the statement said.
Genocide on Gaza Continues
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,870 Palestinians have been killed, and 97,166 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
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