Ankara, 13 December 2023 (TDI): Deputy Minister of Turkey, Yasin Ekrem Serim, addressed the meeting in Geneva and called the UN Security Council’s failure to pass a resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza a “total disappointment”, in a statement released by Foreign Ministry.
“Now, every five minutes a Palestinian is killed. Children and women make up 70% of those murdered since October 7. This is a shame on the international community,” Serim said at a meeting on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory in Geneva at the UN office.
Addressing the roundtable in Geneva on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Serim stressed that failure to end the “bloodshed” undermines the credibility of the rules-based international system.
“What is needed is not temporary pauses but an immediate and durable ceasefire,” he added.
In addition, he stated that a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders of the state of Palestine is necessary, with East Jerusalem as its capital, for a lasting peace in the Middle East.
He emphasized that after hostilities end in Gaza, the peace process doesn’t need to begin, but that this time a monitoring mechanism should be put in place to ensure that parties fulfil their duties as required.
“Or else, what is signed up remains in papers,” he said.
Serim referred to remarks made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Gaza in which he emphasized Turkey’s willingness to “shoulder any responsibility to prevent further bloodshed, destruction, and tears.”
Also Read: UN Secretary invokes Article 99, urges Gaza security action
Israel has launched an air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and imposed a siege following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7.
At least 18,412 Palestinians have since been killed and 50,100 injured in the Israeli onslaught, according to health authorities in Gaza.
The death toll of Israelis in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, according to official figures.
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