The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, MIFTAH is appalled by the latest Israeli atrocity in the Gaza Strip and calls for immediate international intervention to halt the bloodshed.

Israeli occupation forces killed 20 Palestinians and injured 50 on January 15 in continuous air and ground artillery shelling of the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. According to Palestinian medical sources, 21 of the injured Palestinians who arrived at Gaza hospitals are now in critical condition. One casualty was Husam Zahhar, the son of Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar.

Palestinian media sources also claim Israeli tanks and army vehicles barred ambulances from reaching the wounded. In one incident, the ambulance was ambushed and hindered from reaching an area where it later became clear that five Palestinians bled to death.

MIFTAH strongly condemns this escalation in Israeli military operations and calls on the international community to step in and provide protection to Palestinian civilians. It also calls on this community to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and push towards reaching a just and final solution, which would guarantee long-lasting security and stability to the people in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

MIFTAH also extends it condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and reiterates that it holds the Israeli government fully responsible for the massacre that took place yesterday and for the ongoing bloodshed that has resulted from the ongoing Israeli occupation over the Palestinian people and their land.