Cuba's Foreign Ministry has closely followed with extreme caution the recent increase of aggressive actions of the Israeli government against the Palestinian population, leaving dozens dead and wounded.

The Foreign Ministry considers unacceptable and criminal the Tel Aviv siege of Gaza including the cutting off of electricity and food to a million and a half of Palestinian civilians in a flagrant violation of International Law and the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the actions of the Israeli government, which aim to destroy the Palestinian people, including children, women and senior citizens who are suffering the illegal occupation of their territory and are a target of inhuman collective punishment imposed once again by the occupational forces.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry demands that the Israeli government immediately end the inhuman blockade against Gaza and calls on the international community to mobilize and demand the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent and sovereign State, with a capital in Eastern Jerusalem and an unconditional withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied since June of 1967, as the only way to reach a just and everlasting peace for all peoples in the region.

January 24, 2008