By Emma Emeozor with agency report
South Africa and the Republic of Chad have recalled in Israel to assess their relationship with the country amid a rise in civilian casualties from Gaza war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, its foreign minister said yesterday.
Chad said it recalled Chargé d’Affaires in Israel for consultation over “unprecedented deadly violence in the Gaza Strip”.
In a statement from the country’s foreign affairs ministry, the government condemned “the loss of human lives of many innocent civilians” and called “for a ceasefire leading to a lasting solution to the Palestinian question”.
In 1972, Chad, a Muslim-majority country severed its diplomatic relations with Israel but later revived ties in 2019. So far, Turkey, Chile, Bahrain, Honduras, Colombia, and Jordan have also recalled their ambassadors to Israel.
South Africa and Chad announced the recall of their envoys on the heels of United Nations agency leaders yesterday declaring “enough is enough” and demanded a humanitarian ceasefire nearly a month into the war, as health authorities in the enclave said the death toll from Israeli strikes now exceeded 10,000.
The U.N. chiefs call came as Israeli military said its fighter jets yesterday struck 450 Hamas targets in Gaza and troops seized a militant compound in the past 24 hours in attacks the enclave’s health authorities said killed dozens of people.
Israel has rebuffed mounting international pressure for a ceasefire, saying hostages taken by Hamas militants during their rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7 should be released first.
South Africa has long been an advocate for peace in the Middle East and has rallied behind Palestinians, likening their plight to its own under an apartheid regime that ended in 1994.
Calling the return of diplomats a “normal practice”, Naledi Pandor said the recall was to determine “whether there is any potential for you to be of assistance and whether the continued relationship is actually able to be sustained in all terms.”
South Africa does not have an ambassador in Israel. The country is “extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians” in the Palestinian territory, the foreign minister said.
“We believe the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment,” she said, adding the country would continue to call for a comprehensive ceasefire in Palestine.
During the Cairo Peace Summit last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on countries to not supply weapons to either side of the conflict while its foreign ministry urged the United Nations to deploy forces to protect civilians in Gaza.
Over 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which South Africa has condemned, while also calling for the return of hostages.
More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza have said. Pandor made the remarks in Pretoria during a joint press briefing with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
She said there had been progress in two of the 10 points tabled during the African peace initiative aimed at ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine return of the children to Ukraine from Russia and continued exchange of prisoners. The minister did not provide any further details on the progress.
“An entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable,” the U.N. chiefs said in a joint statement.
“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now.” The 18 signatories include the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths.
The reported number of fatalities in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7 has now surpassed 10,000, with the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled enclave saying at least 10,022 Palestinians were killed including 4,104 children.
Reuters said an overnight bombardment by air, ground and sea was one of the most intense since Israel began its offensive following the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas killed 1,400 people and seized more than 240 hostages.
Israel, which says its forces have encircled Gaza City, faces mounting pressure over civilian casualties. A U.S. diplomatic push in the region is intended to reduce risks of the conflict escalating.
The health ministry in Gaza said dozens of people were killed by the Israeli air strikes in Gaza City and further south in Gaza neighbourhoods such as Zawaida and Deir Al-Balah. Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV quoted medical sources as saying at least 75 Palestinians were killed and 106 hurt in the attacks.
Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in an air strike overnight on Gaza City’s Rantissi cancer hospital. Israel’s military said it was looking into the report.
The Israeli army said its strikes hit “tunnels, terrorists, military compounds, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts”. Ground troops killed several Hamas fighters while taking a militant compound containing observation posts, training areas and underground tunnels, it said.
Gaza border officials said the Rafah crossing has resumed operations to allow foreign passport holders and critically wounded Palestinians into Egypt. Hundreds of foreign nationals and wounded were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt last week but no such exits have been reported since Nov. 3.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his United States counterpart Antony Blinken in a meeting in Ankara that a ceasefire needed to be declared urgently in Gaza, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.
Blinken made an unannounced visit to the West Bank on Sunday to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire. Blinken reiterated U.S. concerns that a ceasefire could aid Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled one out for now.
U.S. CIA Director William Burns was also set to visit Israel on Monday to discuss the war and intelligence with officials, the New York Times reported. Burns also will make stops in other regional states, it quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying. The CIA did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.