LONDON: Britain’s Prince William called for an end to the fighting in Gaza, where he said too many people had been killed in the conflict.
Political interventions by members of the royal family are unusual, but William, the 41-year-old heir to the throne is due to carry out a number of engagements to recognize the human suffering caused by the conflict in the Middle East on Tuesday.
His office has also said he will draw attention to the global rise in antisemitism.
“I remain deeply concerned about the terrible human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October. Too many have been killed,” William said.
“I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. It’s critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released.”
The Prince of Wales, who in 2018 became the first senior British royal to make an official visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, will next week attend a synagogue to hear from young people who are involved in tackling hatred and antisemitism as part of his engagement schedule.
The war in Gaza started last October when Hamas fighters burst into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, in what William’s father, King Charles, had called “barbaric acts of terrorism.”
Since then the Israeli military response has resulted in the deaths of more than 29,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.
UK’s Prince William says ‘too many’ have been killed in Gaza conflict
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UK’s Prince William says ‘too many’ have been killed in Gaza conflict
- William is due to carry out a number of engagements to recognize the human suffering caused by the conflict in the Middle East on Tuesday
5 bodies of migrants washed ashore in east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, police officer says
TRIPOLI: At least five bodies of migrants including two women have been washed ashore in َQasr Al-Akhyar, a coastal town in the east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, a police officer told Reuters on Saturday.
Hassan Al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the Qasr Al-Akhyar police station, said that according to people in the area, a child’s body washed ashore and because of the waves’ height the body returned to the sea, and the coast guard was asked to search for it.
Ghawil said the bodies are all dark-skinned people. The bodies were found on Emhamid Al-Sharif shore in the western part of the town by people who reported to the police station.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Qaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into western and eastern factions since 2014.
Qasr Al-Akhyar is a coastal town some 73 kilometers (45 miles) east of Tripoli.
Pictures were posted on the Internet, and also seen by Reuters, showing the bodies of the migrants lying on the shore, where some were still within black inflatable lifebuoys.
“We reported to the Red Crescent to recover the bodies,” said Ghawil. “The bodies we found are still intact and we think there are more bodies to wash ashore.”
Earlier this month, fifty-three migrants, including two babies, were dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Zuwara town in western Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration said.
Last week, a UN report said migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, calling for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured.
