South Africa condemned “Israel’s” assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who led Hamas’ Political Bureau, during his stay in Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Pretoria stressed that the continuous targeting of civilians in Gaza and the assassination of martyr Haniyeh “will further spiral the already tense situation in the entire region.”
“South Africa urges that a thorough investigation be conducted and calls on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid any acts that would escalate tensions in the particularly fragile region,” the South African Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The Government expresses its heartfelt condolences to the Haniyeh family as well as to the leadership and people of Palestine,” it added.
South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola was in Tehran on an official visit alongside a number of other world leaders, including martyr Haniyeh, to attend the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Haniyeh’s assassination violates international law, undermines peace
“Such acts of extrajudicial killings violate international law and the principles of human rights, undermining global efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East,” Lamola explained in the same statement.
“Any form of extrajudicial killing is a blatant violation of [interational law] principles and extra judicial killings of this nature have a destabilising effect. It is crucial that the perpetrators of such actions must be brought to justice,” he underscored.
South Africa also pointed to the ongoing “9-month onslaught in Gaza,” which has killed thousands of civilians and “created unspeakable manmade humanitarian catastrophe.”
The African nation stressed that martyr Haniyeh’s assassination came in this context, where he was also “an integral member of the [Palestinian] negotiating team, working with other countries to secure a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire and bring the [war on Gaza] to an end.”
Pretoria reiterated its calls for an urgent ceasefire, an end to impunity, an end to the genocide of Palestinians, an end to the aggression on Palestinians end the aggression, and an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Source: AlMayadeen
