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37th Summit of the African Union. (Photo: via African Union Tw Page)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The African Union Summit called for an independent international investigation into Israeli violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

The final statement of the 37th Summit of the African Union (AU) condemned the “brutal” Israel war and the use of excessive force against 2.2 million unarmed civilians.

According to Al-Jazeera, the statement called for an independent international investigation into Israeli violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, and Israel’s use of internationally banned weapons to target hospitals and media institutions in the Strip.

The summit also reportedly urged Israel to respond to international calls for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, comply with the decisions of the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide, and lift the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

The leaders of the African Union countries began the 37th summit on Saturday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

The Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said in his opening speech that “Gaza is being completely annihilated and its people are deprived of all of their rights,” adding that he “condemns the Israeli operation (war on Gaza), which is unparalleled in the history of humanity.”

Faki went on to say that “the Palestinian people must enjoy their full freedom and their independent and sovereign state.”

Equally important, the African leader declared his total support for South Africa in its position, which calls on the International Court of Justice to order Israel to stop its genocide in Gaza. 

Ironically, it was the chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, who had, in 2022, granted Israel an observer membership status, though without consulting with members of Africa’s largest political body. 

Faki’s decision, back then, had caused strife among AU members, who clashed over Israel’s desire to join Africa’s most powerful institution.

Faki, this time around, however, seemed to have little interest in incorporating Israel into Africa, to the delight, of course, of the growing pro-Palestine constituency in the continent. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 28,985 Palestinians have been killed, and 68,883 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

(PC, AJA)

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