Khan Yunis: Hundreds rallied Saturday in the
Gaza Strip in support of thousands of fellow
Palestinians trapped in Syria`s Yarmuk camp,
which has been largely overrun by jihadist
fighters.
Hundreds, many waving Hamas flags, took to the
streets in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis in
a march organised by the militant Islamic
movement, the de facto power in the coastal
enclave.
"We say it for the thousandth time: hands off the
Yarmuk camp, hands off our people, hands off
the slaughtered, killed and starved," senior Hamas
official Salah al-Bardawil told them.
He called on the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees UNRWA to use all the influence at its
disposal.
"Your role today is...to exert your pressure in
order to find a way out for those besieged," he
said.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, a senior
official in Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas`s
West Bank-based administration, decried in a
statement "the persecution and slaughtering of
Palestinian refugees... in a conflict that isn`t
theirs."
"Reports of kidnappings, beheadings and mass
killings are coming out from Yarmuk, which is
under a brutal campaign of murder and
occupation at the hands of the terrorist group of
Daesh and its allies," he said.
Erakat was referring to the Islamic State group
and Al-Qaeda`s affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
A Syrian opposition official said on Saturday that
thousands of Palestinian civilians are trapped in
the Damascus camp Yarmuk, which is ringed by
government forces as well.
"The priority must be to save the Palestinian
refugees in the camp by creating a safe passage
for them out of the death trap that Yarmuk has
become," said Erakat.
"We call upon the United Nations and other
involved organisations, including the International
Committee of the Red Cross, as well as the
Syrian government to take all necessary
measures to immediately evacuate civilians. Time
is quickly running out."
Senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official
Hanan Ashrawi called for a united international
effort to stop what she called "a heartbreaking
catastrophe."
"There is an urgent need for all countries to
intervene immediately and work together to
provide emergency relief and put an end to the
bloodshed and the loss of innocent lives," she
said in a statement.
"We call on all members of the international
community, particularly the United Nations,
European Union and the United States, to
safeguard the innocent people of Yarmuk and
ensure that all sides commit to a permanent
ceasefire."
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