The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) condemned the death of as many as 500 civilians in an attack on Gaza’s Baptist-run Ahli Arab Hospital on Wednesday.
Most of the civilians who lost their lives in the attack were women and children, the KNK said, calling the incident a “massacre”, “human tragedy” and a “crime against humanity”.
An explosion on Wednesday killed at least 471 people and injured another 314, the Gazan Health Ministry said. Israeli officials put the blame on a failed rocket launch by the extremist group Islamic Jihad, after some initially assumed responsibility.
A member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s digital media team had originally tweeted that Israel’s air force had struck a “terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza”, which he later walked back, calling it a “mysterious explosion” that was done on purpose to garner international support.
Attacks on civilian infrastructure goes against “international law, conventions, and moral principles”, the Brussels-based umbrella group of Kurdish organisations said.
“As the besieged and occupied people of Kurdistan, we are well aware of the pain and consequences of such attacks,” they said. “For years the Kurds have faced such attacks from occupying states like Turkey and others.”
The suffering of Palestinians is “weaponised and exploited by some regimes for political benefit”, the KNK said, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who they believe “still considers Palestine a former vassal region of the Ottoman Empire, and he, their de-facto Sultan”.
Erdoğan’s actions in Kurdish-controlled regions in Syria, which Kurds call Rojava (West Kurdistan) are the same as those he condemns Israel for committing against Palestinians, the KNK said. “Such shameless hypocrisy may work in Turkey where all dissenting journalists are jailed, but thankfully outside of Ankara’s censorship and control, we see that Turkey has been bombing electrical plants, water facilities, hospitals, oil refineries, and schools for several weeks across Rojava.”
The KNK called for political negotiation, dialogue, and the rejection of “circular destruction” from all parties involved in the conflict for a lasting peace in Palestine and Israel.
“If the Kurdish and Palestinian issues are not resolved at the negotiation table, there will be no peace and stability in the Middle East,” they said.