On Friday, Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mahmoud al-Mashhadani sent a message to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, calling for an end to what he described as the genocide being committed by Israel against the population in Gaza.

In his message to Guterres, al-Mashhadani said, “Through you, we address all member states of the organization to question the deafening silence about the crime of genocide being inflicted upon the besieged and devastated people of Gaza, who are subjected to daily extermination by Israeli occupation gangs in full view and hearing of the entire world—without any international action to stop the killing and terrible starvation of defenseless civilians and innocent children, who are being killed while standing in lines of hunger awaiting scraps, only to return to their families as corpses.”

He added that “the United Nations must have a stronger voice and take more significant action regarding the tragedy of our people in Gaza, to truly live up to its responsibility in saving a people from unjust racial ethnic cleansing, and to genuinely serve as a guardian of human rights and dignity, as its charter proclaims.”

Addressing Guterres, al-Mashhadani continued: “While we emphasize the need for the UN to play a greater role in protecting the remaining civilians in Gaza from starvation and extermination, we do not underestimate the importance of your honorable and responsible humanitarian stances in exposing the killers and the horrific crime that has been met with silence.”

He urged Guterres “to exert more effort and pressure on every level of responsibility within the United Nations and the international community to stop the relentless killing, starvation, and intimidation being committed against civilians.”