Prime Minister Golob: "One year since Hamas attack, capture of Israeli hostages and one year since Israeli military launched one of the largest slaughters in modern history"
Today is the day to consider the next steps, to change the course and to do what is right for humanity - to ensure a ceasefire, to improve the humanitarian situation, to release the hostages and to put diplomatic negotiations back on the agenda. The people of the Middle East deserve a normal and dignified life in peace and security.
The Prime Minister went on to stress that the killing of civilians in Gaza is totally disproportionate to the right to self-defence. "In the actions of the Israeli army we can see elements of violation of international humanitarian law, but also of international law in general", he said.
Prime Minister Golob recalled that the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem had deteriorated dramatically. Gaza has turned into a nightmare. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe as people are deprived of the basic necessities of life. Homes, schools and hospitals are destroyed, family members are killed or missing, traumatised for life, fleeing from one end of Gaza to the other in order to save their bare lives. The UN systems, starting with humanitarian agencies such as UNRWA, are also targets of attack and humiliation, as is the UN Secretary-General himself, António Guterres.
The Prime Minister expressed his concern about the escalation of the conflict: "The war began to spill over into neighbouring Lebanon and Syria", he said. He stressed that Slovenia has always, as part of its foreign policy efforts, advocated for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and the search for a path to lasting peace. Unfortunately, our calls have gone unheard and the situation in the region has escalated.
Prime Minister Golob is convinced that the international community must react more forcefully and take action to prevent further escalation of the conflict with the single aim of bringing an immediate end to the fighting in the region.
"I believe that in the coming days and weeks we will talk much more about this with our European allies and I hope that we will find the appropriate measures to stop the fighting," he concluded.