Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned to urgently send medical supplies to hospitals in Palestine following an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza hospital.
Bangladesh has strongly condemned the barbaric air strike on the Ahli Arabi Hospital in Gaza City, which resulted in the indiscriminate killing of hundreds of innocent civilians, mainly women and children, by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF).
The prime minister issued the order on sending the medical supplies to Health Minister Zahid Maleque over the phone on Wednesday evening.
The minister said, on the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh will send medicine to Palestine urgently as a large number of Palestinians sustained injuries in the Israeli air strike.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the Health Ministry to send necessary medicine as medical assistance to the Palestinians in the aftermath of the Israeli airstrike on a Gaza hospital," he told a discussion in Dhaka, an official release said.
About medical assistance for Palestinians, Maleque said: "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed us to send medicine to Palestine as she wants to bring some relief for Palestinians amid their sufferings and pains."
He said: "As per the directives of the prime minister, we want to stand by the people of Palestine through providing healthcare assistance."
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina denounced a reported Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of innocent people, including children, reiterating her call to global leaders to stop the war and arms races for the wellbeing of mankind.
"We saw people and children killed in a bombing on a hospital (in Gaza by Israel) and blood-stained faces of children yesterday. I am urging world leaders to stop the war and arms races," she told a program on Wednesday held to mark Sheikh Russel Day.
A blast at a hospital in Gaza City killed some 500 Palestinians on Tuesday in the deadliest single incident since Israel launched an unrelenting bombing campaign in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack.
In a statement strongly condemning the airstrike, the Foreign Ministry yesterday said: “This ruthless attack is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian laws and accords and constitutes a grave crime against humanity.
“Bangladesh believes that the current war waged by Israel in Gaza, targeting the civilians, is not only asymmetric and disproportionate, but it is tantamount to collective punishment of Palestinian people in Gaza and in contravention of all fundamental principles of human rights and international civil accords and conventions,” it added.
Bangladesh maintains that the time has come for the international community to address the root causes of the on-going conflict. It is clear that a denial of the dignity of life of the Palestinians and their living under Israeli occupation and forced settlements on Palestinian territory will not lead to peace in the region, read the statement.
Therefore, Bangladesh underlines the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to self-determination and supports a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital as envisioned in UNSC Resolutions No 242 and 338.
Bangladesh further has called upon the international community, including the United Nations, to condemn this heinous act and to urgently enable humanitarian access to the affected territory, it said.
The perpetrators of this criminal act must be held accountable for their actions, and the barbaric war must be put to a stop to prevent further deaths and sufferings of innocent civilians as war victims, read the statement.
Bangladesh has also urged all parties concerned to come to the negotiation table to work towards achieving a lasting solution to the situation in Palestine.
