A PRESS STATEMENT

(For Immediate Release)

 

The Jamiatul Ulama South Africa expresses disgust and condemns the continuing massacres of Palestinians. For seventeen months, the mass murders have not been limited to Gaza alone, but also extended to extrajudicial killings in the Occupied West Bank.

 

As we slept last night, Israel killed at least 400 people within two hours of airstrikes across Gaza. As the toll continues to climb, the depravity of this fresh round of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is reflected in the targeting of residential homes, tented encampments and indiscriminate attack of civilians. This comes after weeks of blockading of food, medicine, tenting supplies for the homeless, and the cutting of electricity supply to the besieged Strip.

 

When the first phase of the ceasefire got underway in January, the resistance in Gaza released captives, living and dead, according to the terms of the truce. Yet, Israel dragged its feet and showed no commitment to the process, varying conditions of the agreement at whim, in order to create a pretext for the continuation of the war.

 

An orchestrated aerial assault on defenceless Palestinians in Rafah, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat, Al-Bureij, Al-Zaytoun, Al-Karama and Beit Hanoun signals a collapse in the phased ceasefire agreement. Benjamin Netanyahu has been given a greenlight by the Trump Administration, to deal with Palestinians as he pleases— dishonouring the ceasefire terms by shuttering humanitarian aid and continuing to kill Palestinians even when a cessation of hostilities was supposed to be holding.

 

The cynical use of Palestinian lives as currency for Netanyahu’s political survival within his extreme right-wing coalition in Tel Aviv has proven as deplorable as it is a failure. Regardless, Israel continues to create circumstances to drive away Palestinians from their land by making life unbearable, and their homes unliveable.

 

As the rules book of an imagined International Order gets torn, the Arab and Muslim World has to wake up to the reality. The plight of Palestinians could be the start but it will not end there. Yemen, in spite of it undergoing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, is being targeted with pledges of more intense attacks that have the potential of plunging the wider region into turmoil, leaving Muslim lands in waste and ruins.

 

JUSA calls on regional powers to come together and challenge the colonial and alien belligerent policies by demanding an end to the occupation of Palestine, the root cause of instability in the Middle East.

 

We call upon congregations to take moments in these auspicious days and nights of Ramadan to supplicate and pray for the protection and relief of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters of the Ummah in Gaza. Imams are being asked to observe the Qunūt-Nāzila, especially during Fajr and wherever appropriate, asking for Allah’s Help in these troubling times. May Allah accept the martyrdom of the fallen in Gaza and grant healing and ease to the maimed, injured and hurt.

 

Released by:

The Executive Committee
Jamiatul Ulama South Africa

17 Ramadan 1446 / 18 March 2025