DR MAHATHIR Mohamad today urged the international community to send an international peacekeeping force to Gaza to protect the Palestinians.

“Please in the name of humanity, the sanctity of human lives. Please stop the massacre.

“I appeal to the decency of the world to stop the massacre. Please send a strong and large international peacekeeping force to stop the genocide,” he said in a statement today.

He added that Israel does not respect international opinion or laws to stop the war in Gaza.

Israel attacked Gaza in retaliation to a Hamas assault inside Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and more than 250 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies. 

At least 38,848 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive since then, Gaza health authorities said.

A ceasefire effort led by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States has so far failed due to disputes between the warring sides, who blame each other for the impasse.

Yesterday the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal” and needed to end as soon as possible.

Palestinian officials, as well as several Arab and Western countries, have hailed the ruling as the clearest declaration yet of the illegality of Israel’s actions. Israeli officials however rejected the non-binding ruling.

At least 50 people were killed in the latest Israeli attacks across Gaza, as concerns mount over the discovery of poliovirus in the enclave.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus has said a ceasefire in Gaza is “essential to allow an effective response” to the spread of the poliovirus in the Palestinian territory.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia was willing to cooperate with Indonesia in deploying peacekeeping forces to Palestine should a mandate be granted by the United Nations. – July 20, 2024.