By Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang

Israeli air strike in Rafah (Pic from Reuters)

The human tragedy in the Gaza Strip is spiralling rapidly down a descent of mindless violence, bloodshed and loss of life. So far more than 40 people, including women and children, have been reportedly killed with the numbers still rising, in the latest Israeli bombardment in retaliation to missiles fired by Hamas into Israel.

This follows a tense week of violent protests sparked by the horrific deaths of three Israeli teenagers and the apparent revenge-killing of a Palestinian 16-year-old teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdair. Earlier this week, the Hamas leadership made a public call of a ceasefire to end hostilities and an end to what it says is Israeli meddling in the Palestinian unity government of Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organisation(PLO).

However, Hamas’ call for a ceasefire was met with more rocket attacks from Israel, and correspondingly missile attacks from Hamas as well. Consequently, the situation is now getting out of hand as many civilians, including women and children, have now been sacrificed.

So far only innocent Palestinian women and children have suffered with their homes demolished and their lives extinguished. With the weapons superiority of Israel, there is a question of a proportionality of the response from Israel where only Palestinians die whilst Israelis remain protected. Israel’s right to exist as a state should not come with bloody hands and be based on genocide of Palestinians but on values of humanity and respect for human dignity and life.

DAP condemns the barbaric act of the Israeli government in killing innocent children and women. DAP urges the international community, particular the United States of America, to intervene immediately to stop the calamitous death toll in the Gaza Strip from rising further before the situation degenerates into all-out war that will claim thousands of innocent lives.