Goff condemns Beersheba bombings

Foreign Minister Phil Goff today condemned the suicide bombings that have killed at least 16 people and injured more than 80 in southern Israel.

“This was a cynical and calculated act. The attacks on two buses were made on the last day of the school holidays and children out shopping with their parents seem to have been among the victims," Mr Goff said.

“New Zealand offers its deepest sympathy for those killed and maimed, and for their families and communities.

“This is yet another act in the pointless cycle of violence and retaliation that we have seen in the past year.

"We understand the anger and grief that Israelis feel. Palestinians undoubtedly feel the same anger and grief at the deaths of Palestinian civilians through military operations.

"We call on both sides to halt this violence, to exercise restraint and to show extremists that their efforts to prevent dialogue that might lead to a resolution of this dispute are in vain.

"The Palestinian Authority must take action to ensure such horrific acts do not occur again. The killing of innocent Israelis is not in the interests of the Palestinian people. We encourage the Palestinian Authority to take tangible action to ensure this takes place.

“Israel's tactics have also served only to alienate further the Palestinian people and to encourage support for extremists such as Hamas, who have claimed responsibility for these acts.

"Israel has a right to provide security for its citizens. The hardest path of all in the fact of such provocation is to exercise restraint, but that is what is required if dialogue is to be renewed, and security assured for Israelis in the long-term,” Mr Goff said.

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