GAZA: A Kuwaiti medical team entered the Gaza Strip Friday through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to help their Palestinian peers treat victims of the ongoing Zionist aggression. Several Gaza health officials welcomed the Kuwaiti team, the first since the start of the war on Oct 7, 2023, at the Palestinian side of the crossing. The officials underscored the importance of the Kuwaiti team visit and its desperately-needed efforts to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s people, particularly after the collapse of the health system in the besieged Strip.

Head of the KRCS Operations Sector and the Kuwaiti medical team Dr Musaad Al-Enezi told KUNA that the team will carry out several surgeries on Palestinian patients in the Strip. He pointed out that the KRCS also brought in medical equipment, tools and medicine to be used in the treatment of the Palestinian people and to back the health system there.

The medical team will perform surgeries at the European Hospital and the Kuwait Specialized Hospital in Rafah in south of the Gaza Strip, Dr Enezi said. He added Kuwaiti relief aid will also be distributed to displaced people in makeshift shelters and refugee camps. The team will also supervise the establishment of a KRCS field hospital in the Strip, Dr Enezi revealed. He indicated that this move comes as part of the KRCS’ efforts to aid Palestinian people, who face the inhuman war machine of the Zionist occupation forces.

He noted that KRCS has also delivered 46 planeloads of relief and humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Kuwait air bridge. The Kuwaiti medical team includes four consultants: Orthopedic Surgeon Consultant Dr Hussein Qwaiyan, Urology Consultant Dr Faisal Al-Hajri, Anesthesia Consultant Dr Muhammad Shamsah and Surgery Consultant Dr Muhammad Haider, along with Administrative Coordinator Abdulrahman Al-Saleh.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the UN and Other International Organizations Nasser Al-Hayen on Friday denounced the systematic destruction by Zionist occupying forces of places of worship in Gaza. Addressing a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) panel discussion on countering religious hatred, in the presence of UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk, the Kuwaiti diplomat said this Zionist occupation action is clear-cut proof of systematic racism, continued suppression and bloody destruction against Palestinian civilians.

Hayen also deplored deliberate and overt racism, discrimination and violations by desecrating the Holy Quran under the pretext of freedom of expression as a provocative act that unequivocally breaches Islamic values and principles. The Kuwaiti diplomat underlined the significance of promoting tolerance and peace and moderation, calling on the international community to necessarily commit to the International Covenant of Civilian and Political Rights, particularly Articles 19 and 20.

Hayen reaffirmed his country’s opposition to any policies that link Islam to terrorism, as this only fuels further hatred and racism worldwide and even underlines international efforts in this regard. Furthermore, he called on all societies, regardless of their religious and cultural background, to seek to ensure people-to-people respect, dialogue and cooperation and to address loopholes in relevant national laws with a view to nurturing tolerance and peaceful co-existence.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Delegate to UN Organizations in Vienna Talal Al-Fassam expressed on Friday Kuwait’s support for all noble efforts exerted by sisterly and friendly countries to bring to halt the Zionist aggression against Gaza. In a statement delivered before a special session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on Zionist nuclear capabilities, Fassam reminded the participants that the IAEA board meetings are held amid dangerous developments in the Middle East region as a result of the genocidal Zionist occupation war against the Palestinian people.

Procrastination and lack of respect for international laws, conventions, and resolutions are not new practices for the occupying Zionist entity, he said. “This behavior is the main reason why the international community continues to follow with concern the issue of (the Zionist entity’s) nuclear capabilities,” Fassam clarified. He pointed to the Zionist entity’s reluctance to implement all UN resolutions related to the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

“Despite the commitment of all countries in the Middle East region to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to implementing the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, (the Zionist entity) refuses to subject all its nuclear facilities to the IAEA comprehensive safeguards system,” Fassam said. He added the Zionist entity also continues to reject all initiatives or take any serious steps in this regard.

He reiterated the IAEA is the international agency responsible for implementing the comprehensive safeguards system and ensuring the peacefulness of nuclear programs of all states. Accordingly, the Kuwaiti ambassador asked the IAEA Director General to keep the issue of “(Zionist) nuclear capabilities” under discussion by the agency’s policy-making bodies. Fassam called on the IAEA to take the necessary steps to press the occupying Zionist entity to immediately join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and subject all its nuclear facilities to the IAEA’s comprehensive safeguards system. – KUNA