‘Extremely Horrifying’: Congress condemns Israel’s action on Gaza, terms it ‘genocidal’

Congress has condemned Israel’s action in Gaza and termed the action as horrific and unprecedented. “Israel’s actions following Hamas’ condemnable attack on their citizens are genocidal. The targeting of civilians, women and children, hospitals and shelters violates the values of humanity and every international norm of war,” Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh said on Friday. “After blockading fuel, power, medicines, anaesthetics and humanitarian aid for weeks on end, hospitals are now being targeted militarily. Over 10,000 people have been killed of which more than half are children. Even premature infants have been deprived of medical care, this is a horrific and unprecedented development even in times of war,” he said. Meanwhile, Israeli troops and Palestinian militants exchanged fire in the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank during an army raid overnight into Friday, which ended at a hospital where the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces detained and searched paramedic crews. At least 11,470 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people are reported missing. Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group launched its Oct. 7 incursion. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial attack, and around 240 were taken captive by militants. With agency inputs.