After eight days of fighting in the south of Israel and the Gaza Strip, a ceasefire was achieved with the help of Egypt as a mediator and prominent diplomats including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
In total, more than 1,200 rockets were launched from Gaza toward Israel. The toll the rockets have taken on Israeli citizens was heavy. Over 1 million civilians, men, women and children were hiding in bomb shelters because their lives were threatened with every launch. Daily life in southern Israel has been totally disrupted.
This happened despite Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization supported by Iran, continues to attack Israel, proof of the fact that it is fighting against Israel’s very existence.
The international community should act now to stop future attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip and to prevent smuggling of more arms into Gaza. Hamas and the other terrorist organizations cannot be allowed to act with impunity, deliberately targeting the civilian population of southern Israel, while at the same time using the Palestinian population in Gaza as a human shield. This is a double war crime.
Israel has demonstrated great restraint, both in the current crisis and in the two previous sustained barrages of the past month. All of Israel’s actions were taken in self-defense, in accordance with International law, with the greatest effort to minimize harm to civilians and while ensuring the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip. It is the duty and right of every state to protect its civilian population from attack. No other state would allow a million citizens to be targeted by terrorist organizations without responding, neither would Korea.
David Levy
Deputy Chief of Mission
Israel Embassy to Korea