MANILA – With the rising death toll from the relentless airstrikes by Israel over Gaza in the past days, the Moro-Christian Peoples Alliance (MCPA) joined the global call for immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“Since breaking the ceasefire, the Zionist-Israel and its number one funder has shown no mercy to our Palestinian brothers and sisters. They play deaf while the list of martyrs and victims grows longer, and those still alive have nowhere safe to go,” said Amirah Lidasan, secretary-general of MCPA.

At least 135 people were reported killed on Sunday, May 18, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera Arabic. Over the past week alone, more than 450 Palestinians died when Israel escalated its ground invasion of Palestinian areas. Since the start of Israel’s invasion of Gaza in October 2023, over 50,000 people have been killed and approximately 121,000 have been injured.

“With Israel preventing aid from entering Gaza, they have also used hunger as another weapon against the Palestinians. Starving them out as they continue to rain bombs on refugee camps and hospitals. How is any of that humane?” Lidasan said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the 2.1-million population of Gaza is facing severe and prolonged food shortage. Nearly 500,000 individuals are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, marked by acute malnutrition, starvation, disease, and rising fatalities. “This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” the WHO said.

Although famine has not yet been formally declared, the global organization said that widespread starvation is already occurring. Around 75% of Gaza’s population are experiencing food insecurity at the two most severe levels (“emergency” and “catastrophic”) as classified by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which ranks food insecurity on a five-tier scale.

The recent airstrike follows the news of NBC that United States (US) President Donald Trump plans to relocate up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza strip to Libya. MCPA said that it is “under the agreement that the administration will release billions of dollars to the Libyan government that had been frozen decades ago.”

However, the US embassy in Libya denied the report about a relocation plan. This, despite Trump’s initial pronouncements that he would allow the United States to take over the Gaza strip and its Palestinian population.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration approved more than $2.5-billion arms sale to Israel which included 35,000 MK 84 and BLU-117 bombs and 4,000 Predator warheads. These were previously deployed by US forces in the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, among other countries.

“Time and time again, the US government has made its stance clear on the genocide which is to consistently violate the Palestinians’ rights to self-determination, to their land, and to peaceful living,” Lidasan said.

Lidasan called on the international community to continue pressuring their respective leaders to take action against the endless attacks on the Palestinian people. “The liberation of one is the liberation of all, especially now in the face of gross violations against human rights, and we should not stop until Palestine is free.”

On May 15, people around the world marked the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, or the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinian Arabs through violence, forced evictions, and land seizure. The Nakba represents the fragmentation of Palestinian society and the ongoing denial of the right of return for refugees and their descendants. The United Nations (UN) noted that, despite numerous UN resolutions over the decades, the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people continue to be denied, perpetuating a long history of injustice and oppression. (RTS, DAA)