The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the Gaza “apocalypse” after Israeli forces committed a massacre at a child’s birthday party; doctors warned that thousands of babies now face starvation; the Al Shifa hospital announced a complete shutdown of dialysis treatment due to a fuel shortage, and at least 74 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, many as they sought food at an aid distribution point.
Israel slaughtered nearly 40 people in an internet cafe and restaurant at which a child’s birthday party was taking place. The cafe had so far survived more than 20 months of Israel’s war and had become a popular venue. Palestinian journalist Ismail Abu Hatab was among those killed in the attack.
SEE: Gaza birthday party bombing: ‘It was a massacre’
Doctors in Gaza are warning that thousands of babies could face starvation as milk supplies run dry due to the Israeli blockade.
WATCH: Thousands of babies face starvation in Gaza as milk supplies run dry
The Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City has reportedly announced a complete shutdown of kidney dialysis services due to a fuel shortage, putting the lives of 350 patients who rely on this treatment in immediate danger.
SEE: Fuel Crisis Shuts Down Dialysis at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Hundreds of Lives at Risk | PNN
Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza altogether on Monday, including 23 Palestinians who were trying desperately to get food aid at a distribution center, witnesses and health officials said.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“What we are seeing in Gaza is nothing short of apocalyptic. This is a murder of humanity, of every basic sense of decency and morality. Massacring children as they celebrate a birthday, starving infants and slaughtering people as they seek aid, denying treatment to the sick – all are standard in the Israeli government’s genocidal playbook. How can the leaders of the world sleep at night as these horrors unfold with their complicity?”
Yesterday, CAIR applauded a decision by the International Sociological Association (ISA) to suspend the membership of the Israeli Sociological Society over its failure to condemn the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and renewed its call for the release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the Gazan doctor who walked toward Israeli tanks in an iconic video, as fears of his abuse in Israeli detention grow.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com