MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Israel's Ambassador concerned over Argentine Foreign Ministry's statement regarding armed conflict in Gaza

”My homeland is under attack by a terrorist organization,” the Israeli ambassador said.

Israel's Ambassador to Buenos Aires Galit Ronen voiced her disagreement regarding an Argentine Foreign Ministry statement criticizing Tel Aviv's “excessive use of force” in retaliating against rockets fired from the Gaza strip but never mentioning the involvement of the Hamas group.

“We see this statement with concern, it does not express the good relationship that exists between our countries. The situation in Israel is worrying, more than 500 missiles were fired,” said Ronen.

The Foreign Ministry had addressed the issue in the following terms: “The Argentine Republic expresses its deep concern over the dramatic worsening of the situation in Israel and Palestine, the disproportionate use of force by Israeli security units in the face of protests over possible evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, as well as the response through the launching of missiles and incendiary devices from the Gaza Strip.”

“The situation is worrying, it is serious. We have done everything we could to not reach this point, but at the end of the day we have to protect our citizens,“ said Ronen in a TV interview. ”My homeland is under attack by a terrorist organization, even though we did everything possible to prevent it,“ she added.

More than 200 rockets were fired toward Israel since Monday and over 20 people were killed
in Gaza, including children, after Israel retaliated

 

Argentina's Foreign Minister Felipe Solá is in Europe as a member of President Alberto Fernández's entourage.

Meanwhile, the armed conflict in the Middle East is escalating perilously. Palestinian media have reported 32 deaths since Monday from Israeli bombings, while the number of fatalities in Israel from rockets launched from Palestinian territory ranged between three and five, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

Hamas claims more than 200 rockets were fired at Israel early Wednesday after Gaza bombings and the United Nations' Special Envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, has warned Israel and Hamas were heading towards a ”full-scale war.“

The armed wing of Hamas said in a statement that it is ”firing 110 rockets at the metropolis of Tel Aviv“ and ”100 rockets“ at the city of Beersheva, ”in retaliation for the resumption of bombardments against buildings where civilians live,“ the French agency AFP has reported.

The international community has called for calm and Muslim countries have expressed outrage over what is the worst outbreak of violence in years between the Islamist movement, in power in Gaza, and Israel, triggered by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem.

”A war in Gaza would be devastating and people would pay the price,” Wennesland said on Twitter.