News24 | ANC 'stands with people of occupied Palestine', party says as Israel-Palestine conflict rages

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.

• The ANC has blamed Israel for the increased violence witnessed in Palestine and Israel. 
• Hundreds of people were reported dead in both countries in what started as an unexpected missile attack on Israel by Hamas militants. 
• The ANC and African Union believe Israel's hostility towards Palestinians was to blame for the increasing tensions. 

The ANC says the actions of Palestinian Hamas militants in Israel were justified because of Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian land. 

On Sunday, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said Palestinian militants had no choice in choosing the escalation of violence because of Israel. 

The ANC has long supported Palestine, believing the country was increasingly facing hostility similar to South Africa's former apartheid regime, justifying humanitarian support for the predominately Muslim country. 

"It can no longer be disputed that South Africa's apartheid history is occupied Palestine's reality.

"As a result, the decision by Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime is unsurprising," Bhengu-Motsiri said in a statement on Sunday.

She said:

"Israel's policy of settling its civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian law," she added.

Hundreds of people have been reported dead and others injured in what first began as a missile attack by Hamas forces into Israeli territory. 

The AFP reported ongoing violence continued between Israel's armed military forces and Hamas forces from Saturday to Sunday. 

While the South African government has in the past taken a diplomatic stance towards Israel, calling out the country for its stance against Palestinians, the ANC has been the most vocal on its belief Israel worsened the tenuous situation in the Gaza Strip. 

EXPLAINER: What we know about the Hamas assault on Israel

The party spokesperson called for Israel to face harsher sanctions from the UN and International Criminal Court. 

The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, took a diplomatic tone on the violence in the region. 

However, like the ANC, he insisted the lack of recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people was the cause of the ongoing conflict. 

The AFP reported Faki said: "… [The] denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, particularly that of an independent and sovereign state, is the main cause of the permanent Israeli-Palestinian tension". 

The Israel Embassy in South Africa called the Hamas militants kidnappers and terrorists in a post shared on Twitter.