MADRID/GAZA: Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday in a coordinated decision slammed by the Zionist entity as a “reward” for Hamas, more than seven months into the devastating Gaza war. The three European countries believe their initiative has strong symbolic impact that could encourage others to follow suit.

After Ireland’s government formally approved the measure, Prime Minister Simon Harris said the aim was to keep Middle East peace hopes alive. “We had wanted to recognize Palestine at the end of a peace process. However, we have made this move alongside Spain and Norway to keep the miracle of peace alive,” he said in a statement, urging the Zionist entity to “stop the humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide hailed the move as “a special day for Norway-Palestine relations”. And after Spain’s cabinet backed recognition, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said “we know that there is still a long way to go, and Spain is willing to walk its part of the path to peace.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said recognition was “essential” for peace, insisting the move was “not against anyone, least of all (the Zionist entity)” and the only way to secure a future of two states living side-by-side “in peace and security”.

Last week, Yolanda Diaz, a far left member of the Spanish government, hailed the proposed recognition, saying: “We cannot stop. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea”. The slogan refers to the British mandate borders of Palestine, which stretched from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea before the Zionist entity was created in 1948. On Tuesday, Spain’s foreign minister said the three countries would give a “calm but firm” joint response to the Zionist entity’s social media attacks. Tuesday’s move will mean 145 of the United Nations’ 193 member states now recognize Palestinian statehood.

Meanwhile, a civil defense official in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said a Zionist strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah on Tuesday killed at least 21 people, days after a similar strike that sparked global outrage. Mohammad Al-Mughayyir said they were killed in an “occupation strike targeting the tents of displaced people west of Rafah.” Hamas said a Zionist strike had caused “dozens of martyrs and wounded” in the area.

It came as Zionist tanks penetrated the heart of Rafah, according to Palestinian officials, despite widespread condemnation over an air strike on a crowded camp in the southern Gaza city that killed 45 people two days earlier. Zionist tanks were “stationed on the Al-Awda roundabout in the center of the city of Rafah”, one witness said.

A Palestinian security source said tanks were in central Rafah, where Zionist troops launched a controversial ground assault earlier this month. “People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by (Zionist) drones,” one resident, Abdel Khatib, said.

The Zionist occupation forces’ repeated attacks on the Kuwait Speciality Hospital in Rafah, one of a few places offering medical care for over 1.2 million people in the southern Gaza city, have forced it to shut down.

“Due to the occupation forces expansion of their military operation in Rafah and their repeated and deliberate attacks on the hospital and its vicinity, including the deadly bombardment of its main gate recently in which two of the medics were martyred in addition to the injuries of five others in a previous attack, we announce that the Kuwait Speciality Hospital in Rafah is now out of service,” Director of the Kuwaiti Hospital Dr Suhaib Al-Hams said in a statement. He pointed out that the doctors and other medical workers would move to the field hospital, which is currently established at the Al-Mawasi refugee camp.

With an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting due to discuss Sunday’s strike on the displaced camp, the situation remains tense in Rafah. In a statement issued hours before the meeting, the Zionist military said the weapons used in Sunday’s strike “could not” have caused the deadly blaze in the Rafah camp.

Sunday evening’s strike, which medics said also wounded hundreds of civilians, drew worldwide condemnation. The sight of the charred carnage, blackened corpses and children being rushed to hospitals led UN chief Antonio Guterres to declare that “there is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop”.

More air strikes and shelling rained down overnight on besieged Gaza — including the Tal al-Sultan area where the displacement camp went up in flames near a facility of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “The situation is very dangerous,” said resident Faten Jouda, 30. “We didn’t sleep all night. There was random bombing from all directions, including artillery shelling and air bombardment as well as firing from aircraft.

“We saw everyone fleeing again,” she told AFP. “We too will go now and head to Al-Mawasi because we fear for our lives,” she said of a nearby coastal area the Zionist has declared a safe “humanitarian zone”. UNRWA said one million civilians had fled Rafah since the Zionist entity launched its assault on the city in early May despite a chorus of international warnings. “This happened with nowhere safe to go & amidst bombardments, lack of food & water, piles of waste & unsuitable living conditions,” it posted on X.

The Zionist offensive has killed at least 36,096 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said Monday that “the images from last night are testament to how Rafah has turned into hell on Earth”. – KUNA