New Zealand Calls For Immediate Cease-Fire Between Israel, Hamas

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Tuesday called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to avoid further "humanitarian catastrophe."

"The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to put an end to the conflict," Peters said in a statement.

"New Zealand has been consistent in calling for restraint and stating that a military incursion into Rafah would be utterly unacceptable. We urge both sides to step back from the brink," he added.

Peters said that his country continues to advocate for a long-term, political solution to the situation, so that Israelis and Palestinians can live securely and peacefully side by side.

"We are clear that Israel and a future Palestinian state, living peacefully side-by-side, is the only durable, realistic and fair solution. Everyone in the international community should be working to that end," he said, adding that "such a solution can only be achieved around a negotiating table, not in Rafah."

Peters' statement came after Palestinian resistance group Hamas said late Monday that it accepted a Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza. However, Israel's War Cabinet decided to push ahead with the operation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following an Oct. 7 attack last year by Hamas that killed nearly 1,200 people.

Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid. -