BRUSSELS/GAZA: Belgium will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on Tuesday, adding to international pressure on the Zionist entity after similar moves by Australia, Britain, Canada and France. Under mounting global criticism for its war in Gaza, the Zionist entity has been angered by the pledges to formally recognize a Palestinian state at a summit during this month’s UN event.
Belgium will join the signatories of the New York Declaration, paving the way for a two-state solution, Prevot said in a post on X. The decision
comes “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by (the Zionist entity) in violation of international law,” Prevot added. Belgium, a member of the European Union, took the decision to step up pressure on the Zionist government and Hamas, Prevot said. Prevot also emphasized Belgium’s commitment to Palestine’s reconstruction.
Belgium intends to recognize a Palestinian state as part of a joint diplomatic initiative led by France and Saudi Arabia, Prevot said. The move is described as a political signal also aimed at condemning the Zionist entity’s settlement expansion and military presence in the territories. Belgium would also levy 12 “firm” sanctions on the Zionist entity, such as a ban on importing products from its settlements, a review of public procurement policies with Zionist companies and declaring Hamas leaders persona non grata in Belgium, Prevot said.
In Gaza, the Zionist entity intensified its military build-up on Tuesday as reservists began responding to call-up orders ahead of a planned offensive to capture Gaza City, nearly two years into a devastating war. Despite mounting pressure at home and abroad to end its campaign in the Palestinian territory, Israel is gearing up to seize Gaza’s largest city — intensifying bombardments and operating in the outskirts in recent days.
The United Nations estimates that nearly a million people live in Gaza City and its surroundings, where a famine has been declared. In a statement, the military said it had been preparing in recent days “ahead of expanded combat operations and the large-scale mobilization of reservists”.
Zionist media reported that some 40,000 reservists were being called up in the first mobilization wave. On the ground in Gaza City, weary Palestinians told AFP they felt helpless and desperate ahead of the looming offensive. “There is no place for us to go, and no means to get there. We are exhausted physically and mentally from displacement and from the war,” 60-year-old Amal Abdel-Aal, who lives in a tent in western Gaza City, told AFP by telephone. “We have come to wish for death.”
In a post on X on Tuesday, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman warned Gazans of the upcoming “expansion of combat operations towards Gaza City”. “We wish to remind you that in Al-Mawasi enhanced services will be provided, with an emphasis on access to medical care, water and food,” Avichay Adraee said, referring to an area in the south which the Zionist entity designated a humanitarian zone in the early months of the war but which has been hit by repeated strikes.
In mid-August, UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said Palestinians in Al-Mawasi had “little or no access to essential services and supplies, including food, water, electricity and tents”. Khalil Al-Madhoun, 37, who lives in a partially destroyed apartment in western Gaza City said he had travelled twice to the south looking for somewhere to pitch a tent but found no space. “The centre and the south are completely overcrowded,” he told AFP by telephone.
Most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been displaced at least once during the war. The military last week declared Gaza City a “dangerous combat zone”, while Adraee said the evacuation of the population hub was “inevitable”. The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned any Zionist attempt to evacuate the city would be impossible to do in a safe and dignified manner.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Zionist forces killed at least 56 people on Tuesday, including 10 in an air strike on a residential building in the southwest of Gaza City. AFP footage from the aftermath of the strike in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood showed Palestinians carrying a dead girl from the rubble of the top floor. “We were sleeping safely in our homes and suddenly we woke up to the sound of bombing and destruction and found most of our neighbors murdered and injured,” said Sanaa Al-Dreimli. The Zionist offensive has killed at least 63,633 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians. – Agencies
