Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gare Storr said on Sunday that Israel has violated the rules of international humanitarian law in its war on the Gaza Strip by responding "disproportionately" to the attack of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), according to Anadolu Agency.
Storr added in a radio interview that international law stipulates that the reaction to such an attack "must be proportionate," taking civilians into account, stressing that humanitarian law is fully aware of this, and said, "I think Israel has exceeded this limit by far in Gaza."
On the level of relief aid to the Gaza Strip, the Norwegian official stressed that his main concern is the lack of emergency aid to the people of Gaza, describing the situation there as catastrophic, and that the lack of aid "clearly violates the rules of war or humanitarian law," pointing to concerns that the ongoing escalation will ignite a much larger conflict in the region, saying, "It is clear that it is a longer-term conflict."
The Norwegian Prime Minister said earlier that his country condemns the blockade on the Gaza Strip and the measures targeting civilians in the Strip, warning of the development of the matter in Gaza into a humanitarian disaster.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide described the situation in the Gaza Strip as terrible and tragic, and stressed that the humanitarian aid that entered through the Rafah crossing was "a small point in the vicinity of needs."
In a previous interview with Al Jazeera, Barth Eide said that his country called for a humanitarian ceasefire that allows the entry of humanitarian aid significantly, and the need to rise to the required level in light of the suffering of people and the lack of water, electricity, food and medical equipment, stressing the importance of the conflicting parties respecting the law of war and international humanitarian law.
Last Friday, Norway voted in favor of a United Nations resolution calling for a permanent and immediate humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, in light of the ongoing Israeli war on the Strip for more than two weeks, leaving thousands of martyrs and wounded and massive destruction.
This coincides with the continuation of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, which was launched by the Palestinian resistance factions at dawn on October 7 in response to the attacks of the Israeli occupation and settlers against the Palestinian people and their holy sites.