Nigeria Calls for De-escalation of Hostilities between Israel and Hamas

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The federal government has called for the de-escalation of violence and hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
Gun battles raged into the night after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill and abduct soldiers and civilians.

“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the stunned nation as the army retaliated by pounding targets in the blockaded enclave, where several residential tower blocks were reduced to rubble.
About 80 people were killed in Israel, medical services said, while Gaza authorities released a death toll of 232 in the conflict’s bloodiest escalation in years which also left many hundreds wounded on both sides.

“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” Netanyahu vowed after Hamas had launched its first such combined ground, air and sea offensive, half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
As night fell, the Israeli army said its forces were still engaged in live gun battles in 22 Israel locations, in an ongoing operation labelled “Swords of Iron,” as reservists were being called up.

“There are still 22 locations where we are engaging with terrorists that came into Israel, from the sea, from the land and from the air,” said army spokesman Richard Hecht on what he labelled a “robust ground invasion.”

As global concern grew and the United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday, President Joe Biden voiced “rock solid and unwavering” support for the United States ally and warned, “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation.”
But the Federal Government of Nigeria in a statement personally signed yesterday by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassdor Yusuf Tuggar, pleaded for the immediate ceasefire between the two parties.

The statement read: “The Federal Government of Nigeria is deeply concerned about the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the early hours of Saturday, October 7, 2023 and calls for de-escalation and ceasefire.
“The cycle of violence and retaliation that the current escalation has assumed, only serves to perpetuate an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population, that bear the brunt of every conflict.”

The statement added that: “The Federal Government of Nigeria, therefore, calls on both sides to exercise restraint, prioritize the safety of civilians and give room for humanitarian considerations.
“We are therefore calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue.”