(Tripoli) The Parliament installed in eastern Libya demanded on Wednesday the “immediate” departure of the ambassadors of the countries supporting Israel in its war against Palestinian Hamas, citing in particular the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
In a press release published on its site on Wednesday, this institution close to the camp of powerful Marshal Haftar also threatened to suspend the supply of hydrocarbons to these countries if “the massacres” of Palestinians do not stop.
“We ask the ambassadors of states that support the Zionist entity (Israel, Editor’s note) in its crimes to leave the territory [libyen] immediately,” reads the Parliament statement, as the war between Israel and Hamas entered its 19e day.
This was triggered by the unprecedented attack perpetrated by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7, which left more than 1,400 dead, mostly civilians. Israeli strikes carried out in retaliation on the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by Hamas, left more than 6,500 dead, mostly civilians.
“If the massacres committed by the Zionist enemy do not stop, we ask the Libyan government to suspend oil and gas exports to the states that support it,” Parliament warned.
The Libyan Parliament denounced “in the strongest terms” what “the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Italy” are doing, which “support the Zionist entity in its crimes” in the Gaza Strip, while their leaders “give lessons on human rights and the right of people to self-determination”.
Libya, which does not recognize Israel, has been plagued by violence and political divisions since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi following a popular revolt in 2011.
The country is also governed by two rival executives: the “national unity government” based in Tripoli (west) and recognized by the UN, and the “Libyan government” in the east, installed by Parliament and affiliated with the camp of Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of the eastern region of Libya.
Several demonstrations in support of the Palestinians took place in several Libyan cities, notably after the deadly strike on a hospital in Gaza on October 17.