Appalled at Palestinian Fatalities, French Senator Welcomes Gaza Truce
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A member of the French Senate hailed what she called “a breath of fresh air” in the Gaza Strip in the wake of the recent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel following seven weeks of Israeli onslaught on Palestinians.
“This so-called permanent agreement after 50 days of fire and bloodshed, leaving 400 children murdered, is signed just on the 50th anniversary of the creation of PLO (the Palestine Liberation Organization),” Nathalie Goulet said in an email interview with the Tasnim News Agency.
She was referring to a ceasefire deal between Palestinians and Israel, which was mediated in Cairo and took effect on Tuesday evening.
The truce, which ended seven weeks of Israeli brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip, has called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.
Palestinian health officials say 2,142 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in the enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive on the coastal enclave of 1.8 million population.
Elsewhere in her comments, Goulet insisted that the State of Palestine should be entitle to enjoy its own “flag, national anthem, currency and territories with safe borders” as a sovereign country.
“The international community has now a duty to resolve the Palestinians’ issues,” she underlined.
On Wednesday, a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) convoy crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip for the first time since 2007, carrying enough food for around 150,000 people for five days.
Eighteen trucks carrying food parcels containing ready-to-eat items such as canned meat, beans, tea and other drinks, made the seven-hour trip from Alexandria to the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since the start of the Gaza blockade in 2007, the WFP said in a statement.
