ALGIERS, Algeria

Algeria has called on UN Security Council members to reject efforts to expel Palestinians from their homeland, the Gaza Strip, the Algerian News Agency reported on Saturday. 

Algeria's Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama said during a Security Council meeting on Friday evening that "our position must be clear in rejecting the displacement of Palestinians from their land."

“Everyone must realize that there is no place for the Palestinians except in their land and that any attempt to displace them is a clear violation of the provisions of international law, in particular Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the envoy was quoted as saying by the news agency.

The Algerian envoy called on the international community, particularly the Security Council, to unilaterally reject the displacement of Palestinians.

"The barbaric bombing of Gaza, the destruction of the infrastructure, and the targeting of everything that symbolizes life there aims to make it inhabitable, and to kill all Palestinian hope of return,” Bendjama said.

“Silence in this regard is considered complicity,” he said.

The ambassador stressed that “we must not neglect the West Bank and Holy Jerusalem."

Algeria began its mission as a non-permanent member of the Security Council earlier this year, representing the African continent for a two-year term.

Its diplomat had previously confirmed that the Palestinian cause would be his country's top priority in its new position.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv claims killed around 1,200 people.

At least 23,843 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 60,317 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi