Cape Town - The relentless bloodletting in the ongoing conflict between Palestinian groups and Israel has once again split South Africans into pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli after an “unprecedented” attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas and a strong response from Israel that has killed over 1000 people.
On Saturday, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades conducted an unexpected and widespread attack, “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm/Flood”, in which fighters reached Israel from all along the Gaza Strip using paragliders, dirt bikes, and tearing through barbed wire fencing with a bulldozer.
Key Israeli Defence Force (IDF) military areas were also breached, seizing military vehicles and armaments, killing or abducting soldiers.
The ANC in the Western Cape used its 2019 ANC Manifesto Review meeting as an opportunity to hold a solidarity picket prior to the formal proceedings, outside the OR Tambo Hall, in Khayelitsha.
Provincial ANC spokesperson Muhammad Khalid Sayed said the party supported the resistance of the Palestinian people amid the escalation in violence, and called on Israel to “cease current murderous activities” and the expansion of illegal settlements.
In Gatesville, the Al-Quds Foundation SA held a Khatm al-Qur’an (recitation of the Holy Qur’an from start to finish) at Masjidul Quds, yesterday.
Four police vehicles were stationed outside the mosque, while attendees donned Palestinian scarves and recited the Qur’an for a liberated Masjid Al-Aqsa and Palestine.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign will stage a demonstration outside the Western Cape High Court at 9.30am today.
A protest will also be held at the Samson Centre, Hatfield Street, Gardens, at 3pm on Wednesday, and an interfaith vigil outside the Claremont Main Road Mosque at 1.30pm on Friday.
The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) said more than 5000 rockets were fired on areas in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Sderot and Ashkelon.
An estimated 659 Israelis died and 2040 injured. The federation also reported that more than 100 civilians and soldiers were abducted.
SAZF national spokesperson Rolene Marks said from Modiin, Israel: “Elderly people have been executed in the street, civilians, including young children, have been abducted and taken captive by the internationally-designated terrorist organisation. The world is watching and the world is disgusted.
“The United Nations has joined 29 countries, including Ukraine, in condemning this violence – it is unconscionable that the South African government hasn’t done the same.”
Images and videos of a cramped Ben Gurion International Airport, show Israelis trying to flee the country.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally declared a state of war against Hamas and launched operation “Swords of Iron” on Saturday. Israel’s Security Cabinet also halted the supply of electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza in retaliation.
Netanyahu said: “The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities. We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens …
“All the places in which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating, in that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents of Gaza: leave now, because we will operate forcefully everywhere.”
The DA condemned what it referred to as an “unprovoked attack” by Hamas and called for an immediate end to the violence and the release of Israeli civilians held hostage.
The Embassy of the State of Palestine in South Africa said, as of 10.30am yesterday, the Ministry of Health in Palestine announced more than 313 deaths and 1 990 wounded at hospitals in the Gaza strip.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) condemned the attacks on health-care facilities. This after the Indonesian Hospital and an ambulance in front of Nasser Hospital were struck by Israeli forces, killing a nurse and an ambulance driver and injuring several others.
In a statement, the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) said: “The new conflagration has arisen from the continued illegal occupation of Palestine land, continued settlement expansion, desecration of the Al Aqsa mosque and Christian holy sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.
“The region is in desperate need of a credible peace process that delivers on the calls of a plethora of previous UN resolutions for a two-state solution and a just and comprehensive peace between Israel and Palestine.”
Dirco said urgent attention must be given to resolving the final status issues over borders, the status of Jerusalem, the release of political prisoners, and the right of return.
From Lebanon, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for airstrikes into occupied Shebaa Farms from Lebanon in solidarity with the Palestinian people, with Israel responding with artillery strikes, on Sunday.
The EFF called for the protection of children, women and civilians as a priority.
“The annexation of Palestinian land and killing of Palestinian children is violent and violence begets violence.
“Land dispossession is a violent exercise that undermines the very humanity of the Palestinian people. The people of Palestine have an inalienable right to their land and have a right to self-determination. These rights, when not peacefully offered, are inherently violently acquired.”