The Federal Government (FG) has condemned the ongoing attacks on civilians in Gaza and Rafah in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
The government has also called on all stakeholders – including the warring parties (Israel and Palestine), the United Nations, especially its Security Council, the European Union, human rights groups, civil society organisations, world leaders and the international community – to intensify efforts with a view to ensuring a speedy resolution of the conflict.
It also called for the immediate cease of the holocaust on the defenceless people, not just Gaza, but also on both sides of the row.
A statement signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, noted that the recent deadly attacks on the Rafah Displacement Camps in Southern Gaza on Sunday in which about 45 people, mostly women and children, were killed, represented an unfortunate addition to the list of strikes on soft civilian targets with devastating effects which have now characterized the crisis.
Tuggar said that the Rafah attacks, just like the bombing of the Al Shifa Hospital in early April, the serial bombing of schools, particularly in Khan Younis, the March 2024 bombing of the Firas Market and the Nuseirat Refugee Camp Market as well as the drone attacks on the World Central Kitchen aid staff in April, portrayed a most regrettable affront on humanity, which must be denounced in its entirety.
Nigeria, the minister said, was grossly concerned about the safety and welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, as it is worried about the protection of the dignity and sacredness of human life in the enclave.
“It deplores the already mature humanitarian catastrophe that has developed out of this regrettable situation. Nigeria is greatly dismayed at the flagrant disregard of ceasefire agreements, the violation of humanitarian corridors, and the deliberate sabotaging of aid and relief efforts,” the statement said.
“Nigeria, therefore, strongly maintains the stance that the fundamental human rights, including and especially that to life, of the vulnerable civilian population of Gaza must be preserved at all cost,” it added.
Tuggar called on all stakeholders, including the warring parties (Israel and Palestine), the United Nations, especially its Security Council, the European Union, human rights groups, civil society organisations, world leaders and the international community, to intensify efforts towards a speedy resolution of the conflict, and the immediate cessation of the attendant carnage on the defenceless people, not just of Gaza, but on both sides of the divide.
He added that no lesser alternative would be acceptable, nothing: “We consider an intervention on behalf of the people of Gaza as a far-reaching contribution to preservation humanity and its values. We also reaffirm our of position regarding the two-state solution as vital to the amelioration of the prevailing situation.”
