Moscow, July 31, 2014
The Israeli “Operation Indestructible Rock” began on June 7 with long-distance strikes on the Gaza Strip in answer to Palestinian missile attacks. Ten days later the operation developed into “a land phase,” which so far has been confined to search and destruction in the narrow border zone of underground tunnels built by the militants for making sallies into Israeli territory. The military campaign has already taken the lives of more than 1,200 Palestinians and 56 Israelis.
“We have all agreed that if a humanitarian corridor is opened we can start providing humanitarian aid even now, sending medicine, medical equipment, food, and especially baby food. Gaza residents need all this — they are in want of medicine, bandage materials, food and even water. We are ready, we have the means, we have material aid that we can deliver there, unless the Israelis prevent us from doing so,” said Fomin.
According to him, it is impossible to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestine at the moment, as “Gaza is encircled, the Israelis are bombarding it from the air, from the ground and from the sea — nobody is let in or out of there.”
Fomin added that IOPS members have expressed their support for the suffering residents of Palestine. The organization has come out in support of an immediate cease-fire from both sides, and the formation of an independent Palestinian state with the capital in East Jerusalem.
The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society is a scholarly and humanitarian non-governmental organization, originally formed in 1882. Its statutory task is to promote pilgrimages to the Holy Land, scholarly research about Palestine, and humanitarian cooperation with the countries of the Biblical region. Patriarch Kirill is the head of the committee of honorary members; Sergei Stepashin is the chairman of the IPPO.
