Refugees International Statement on Violence in Israel and Gaza

By Eric Schwartz | May 12, 2021

Please see below statement from Refugees International President Eric P. Schwartz:

“Since Monday, 48 Palestinians, including 14 children, in Gaza and five Israelis have been killed in conflict between Israel and Hamas. The worst violence since the 2014 Gaza war, the situation threatens to spiral into a war that will claim more lives and wreak havoc. The renewed violence comes against the backdrop of growing tensions in East Jerusalem around the planned Israeli expulsion of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. In addition, an Israeli police raid of Al-Aqsa Mosque left hundreds of Palestinians and several Israeli police officers injured.

Refugees International is deeply concerned by the renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas, including Israeli airstrikes in Gaza with grave implications for Palestinian civilians and indiscriminate Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli population centers.

We also remain deeply alarmed by Gaza’s long-running humanitarian crisis. Since 2007, blockades and three wars have worsened conditions for the nearly 2 million Palestinians living in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the crisis.

Refugees International urges Israel and Hamas to immediately halt all attacks and renews its call upon Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza to alleviate the humanitarian suffering. Finally, we call on the U.S. government and international community to urge the Israeli government not to expel Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah.”

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Director of Communications Sarah Sheffer at ssheffer@refugeesinternational.org or +1 202 540 7029.

PHOTO CAPTION: A Palestinian woman looks at the rooftop of a building which was hit by an Israeli airstrike at al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City, early on May 11, 2021. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)