It is more urgent than ever that the Maltese government recognises the Palestinian state, Labour MEP and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Alex Agius Saliba stated on Wednesday.
“After the genocide declared by Israel, the only way in which we can stop all this is by providing an international platform for Palestinians,” he said.
The PL Deputy Leader for Party Affairs said this following Malta having joined fifteen other European Union nations in calling for a review of the trade and cooperation agreement with Israel. The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Monday that Israel will take control of all of Gaza.
Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg, who is the PL Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs, has called for Israel to immediately lift the humanitarian aid blockade.
PL MEP Daniel Attard on Wednesday also made a statement on social media regarding Gaza. “I cannot refrain from writing about the suffering being experienced by our brothers and sisters in Gaza,” he said. He continued that 14,000 babies may die of hunger if humanitarian aid does not arrive in Gaza in the near future, “apart from the 20,000 boys and girls who were brutally killed in what is no less than a genocide in our time and before our eyes”.
The United Nations has warned that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die if aid in nutrition and care does not reach them imminently. UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher has reportedly described the situation as catastrophic. Some aid has reportedly been allowed into Gaza, but Fletcher has said that this permitted aid was just “a drop in the ocean”.
The World Health Organisation has stated that the 2.1 million population of Gaza is facing prolonged food shortages, with around half a million people being in a situation of catastrophic starvation, illness, and death. “This is one of the world’s worst hunger cases, unfolding in real time,” it said.
“Why this cruelty against the innocent? Why this silence?” questioned Attard. He remarked that indifference is complicity, and added that while there are those who close their eyes, he will continue to speak.
On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV also called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza, describing the situation as “worrying and painful”. He called for a cessation of hostilities, as he said that the price is ultimately paid for by the children, the elderly, and the sick.