Her Excellency Ambassador Safa Khaldi held a meeting on the 5th of February 2024, bringing together Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of The State of Palestine, Dr. Amal Jadou and Madam Ambassador with Aambassadors of Arabic and other friendly states. Hosted at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Bratislava, the meeting served as a briefing on the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem during the ongoing aggression by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Dr. Amal  Jadou and Her Excellency Ambassador Safa Khaldi presented data from reports published by humanitarian organisations and UN institutions exposing crimes against humanitarian and health workers protected by international law – as of January 2024, 50 health facilities, including 30 hospitals in Gaza have been affected by IOF aggression. In January alone, 14 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces.  Their excellencies reaffirmed the need to assure protection of these groups by implementing international law accordingly.

Their Excellencies expressed solidarity with the Palestinian peoples and their right to self-determination, and confirmed their support for the call for a ceasefire.  The meeting helped strengthen and further promote our multilateral relations.

Central to the discussions were recent developments concerning the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza and the West Bank, particularly addressing the alarming escalation of violence and Israeli war crimes against the civilians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank including East Jerusalem. Their excellencies discussed developments in the West Bank during the month of January, during which 62 people were killed by IOF. In the same month, over 5000 Palestinian civilians were killed in Gaza. As of January 2024, 85% of Gaza’s total population (nearly 2 million people) has been forcibly displaced. 

Their excellencies agreed to continue the dialogue and to further enhance bilateral relations between Palestine and Slovakia.

Dr. Jadou and Ambassador Khaldi continued their meeting at the Embassy of The State of Palestine in Slovakia, where they met with the advisor of the Slovak Prime minister for political affairs, Eduard Chmelár, and Member of Parliament Erik Kaliňák. Dr. Jadou updated Mr. Chmelár and Mr. Kaliňák on the current situation. All attendants of the meeting expressed their frustration with the response of the international community to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, as well as with the massive loss of lives of Palestinians in Gaza, out of which 70% are women and children. Dr. Jadou referred to the war and its costs on the lives of Palestinian civilians as a failure of the international community to uphold International Law. We thank the Slovak Republic and its representatives for their support of the two state solution and would be glad to see more action and concrete steps taken in maintaining it.

In the aforementioned meetings, we have reaffirmed our commitment to protection of innocent lives and the necessity of a ceasefire.