Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has condemned the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, describing the Israeli military campaign as genocide.
His comments come in the wake of a new United Nations report that concludes Israel has committed genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 17, Ablakwa stated that the government of Ghana has taken a clear and principled stance on the crisis, engaging both Israeli and Palestinian representatives while also offering humanitarian support.
“We agree that what is going on in the Gaza Strip is genocide. We haven’t minced words at all. We’ve had the opportunity to engage my counterpart, the foreign minister in Israel, the ambassador here, and we have made clear our point,” he said.
“At the same time, we have also solidarised with the Palestinians. For the first time, we have been able to make an impressive donation to them. We are probably the only African country that has been able to send aid to Palestine – made in Ghana chocolate, cocoa products – and we thought that we should solidarize and establish the fact that we are not going to sit by and watch these atrocities go on and not be able to bring our humanity to bear.”
He emphasised that while Ghana maintains cordial relations with all parties, it remains committed to taking principled positions on matters of human rights and international law.
“Even though we are conscious to be good friends of all, we take principled matters on those positions,” he noted.
Ablakwa’s remarks align with findings from a recent United Nations commission of inquiry, which stated that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
According to the report, there are “reasonable grounds” to conclude that Israeli forces have committed four out of five acts defined under international law as genocidal.
These include the killing of group members, causing serious bodily and mental harm, creating conditions intended to destroy the group, and preventing births.
Read also
Gaza crisis: Ghana donates 40 metric tonnes of cocoa products to Palestine
