The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said the Israeli government’s “mass murder on an industrial scale” must be stopped after Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 54,056 people have been killed by Israeli forces and thousands of starving Palestinians stormed a US-Israeli aid distribution center in southern Gaza. CAIR also condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, by Israeli settlers.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 54,056 Palestinians and wounded 123,129, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying that thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
SEE: Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed over 54,000 since start of war
Thousands of Palestinians, desperate to get food to feed their families after nearly three months of a total Israeli blockade, have stormed a controversial US-Israeli aid distribution centre in southern Gaza.
SEE: Israel’s aid distribution centre stormed by large crowds in Gaza
More than 1,000 illegal Israeli settlers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem yesterday while several others stormed UNRWA headquarters, as part of the controversial Flag March to mark the city’s occupation by Israel. The settlers chanted “death to Arabs.”
SEE: Thousands of Illegal Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque for Israel’s ‘Flag Day’ – Palestine Chronicle
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“The Israeli government’s mass murder on an industrial scale must be stopped. The world can no longer sit back and watch the brutal extirpation of a population and the erasure of their legacy. The Israeli government is not interested in peace. It is time for the United States and the rest of the nations of the world to force them to stop these atrocities.”
He noted that the medical journal The Lancet estimated that some 186,000 may have died since Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
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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