The African National Congress (ANC) has condemned and denounced the attacks by the Israeli army in Gaza against Palestinians.

The party is calling on the international community to use the necessary laws against Israel for what it says are “gross violations of the fundamental rights of Palestinian people”.

Israel has unleashed a wave of air attacks on Gaza since Friday, killing at least 31 people, including six children. More than 260 people have been injured.

ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said the continual colonisation and attacks by apartheid Israel on Palestinians is a violation of global human rights.

“It is obvious, response to this carnage needs more than public statements from any peace-loving organisation, movement, and any government globally. The call for maximum restraint has and continues to sound hollow to the Israel aggressors, no matter how many times it is repeated. The continual displacement of Palestinians and justification of the attacks against civilians, including children, through the usage of heavy artillery should be stopped,” Mabe stated.

He said Israel’s “persistent butchering of Palestinians is conducted with impunity”.

“We then must ask ourselves: For how long are we expected to watch this carnage on people who simply are fighting for their birthright without making impactful efforts to stop such carnage?”

The party appealed to its members and to progressives throughout the world to intensify solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation.

Mabe said any persistence by the Israeli apartheid government in the atrocities it perpetrates against Palestinians should receive an equally intensive response from progressive internationalists.

“The world cannot continue to sit and allow for this endless infringement on the sovereignty and rights of Palestinians and its people over decades. An attack on innocent civilians being reduced to the killing of Jihadists and by the mentioning of a five year-old girl is unacceptable. The destruction of a nation by targeting its next generation and its people is a clear intent of ethnic cleansing,” the party said.

The ANC pledged its unwavering support to the government of Palestine and its people.