A Palestinian man rushed carrying a young Palestinian after she was rescued from under the rubble of a home following an Israeli attack on the town of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

Baghdad, October 17 (RHC)-- The Iraqi Parliament has called for the activation of the Arab Defense Treaty against the Israeli regime in response to its relentless onslaught against the besieged Gaza Strip.

During a session on the Israeli aggression against Gaza, Iraqi lawmakers condemned the “brutal practices and crimes committed by the Zionist occupation forces against the Palestinian people,” according to a statement released after the session.  They also renewed the call for the Arab League to hold an emergency session to condemn Israeli aggression against Gaza and to open corridors to deliver humanitarian, medical and food aid to Gaza.

The Iraqi legislators also called for efforts to “activate the League’s Charter considering that any attack on a member is an attack on the Arab countries, activate the Joint Arab Defense Treaty, and address the free world to stand by the Palestinian people, in addition to calling on the United Nations to prevent the killing and deportation of the Palestinian people.”

Israel launched deadly strikes on the densely-populated Gaza Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group waged a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping entity.

Hamas said that its operation came in response to Israel’s violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing settler violence.