NZ’s ‘grave concerns’ over Israel-Gaza clash

New Zealand has called for a ceasefire in the worsening conflict between Israel and Gaza, and senior officials have raised international law violations with the Israeli ambassador.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta yesterday said she was calling ‘‘for the immediate ceasefire’’ in Israel and the occupied Palestine territories, and New Zealand was ‘‘ready to assist’’ by calling for peace.

‘‘It’s clear that there are longstanding issues that have caused the escalation of violence,’’ she told reporters.

‘‘But, right now, the focus has to be on calling for calm and the de-escalation of events there, because there are casualties, children are included.’’

The death toll is rising in a worsening conflict between Israel and Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist militant group which controls the Gaza Strip, a blockaded strip of land between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean sea.

Israel has fired rockets into Gaza, killing senior Hamas figures and more than 50 people including at least 14 Palestinian children.

Hamas has rained rockets on Israeli cities including Tel Aviv, killing at least six Israelis, the

reported. Jewish and Arab mobs have been rioting in major Israeli cities, and Israeli forces have attempted to evict Palestinian families from an East Jerusalem neighbourhood that has become a flashpoint in the conflict.

Mahuta said senior officials had met the Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, Ran Yaakoby, on Wednesday, and ‘‘strongly urged Israel to de-escalate to prevent the prospect of a widening conflict’’.

‘‘They also raised their concern at the continued violation of international law and forced evictions occurring in East Jerusalem,’’ she said.

The Green Party joined Mahuta in condemning the displacement of Palestinian families and the ‘‘indiscriminate bombing’’.

‘‘We note that the forcible displacement of Palestinians is an atrocity crime in international law, and in these circumstances can amount to ethnic cleansing,’’ the party’s human rights spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman said.

New Zealand currently has a deployment of about 30 soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula, south of Gaza, including army Major General Evan Williams, who has led the Multinational Force of Observers since 2019 – an international peacekeeping effort.

The Defence Force also recently sent over six medics to the peninsula to assist with a Covid-19 outbreak in the Sinai force.