KUALA LUMPUR: Palestinian group Hamas commended Malaysia's decision to prohibit ships displaying the Israeli flag from docking in the country.
Hamas senior officer Osama Hamdan expressed appreciation for the Malaysian government's strong stance in supporting Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict.
He urged other Arab and Muslim nations to take similar steps to demonstrate solidarity with occupied Palestine.
"We appreciate and thank the Malaysian government for preventing ships with Israeli flags from docking at their ports and disallowing any ship bound for Israel from loading cargo at Malaysian ports.
"We call on Arab and Muslim countries to adopt a similar stance in support of our people in Gaza, who are defending their freedom and independence, respecting the international order," he said in a press conference," he said.
Hamdan also called on global labour unions to reject any dealings with Israeli ships, echoing Malaysia's government stance.
"We urge labor unions worldwide to refrain from dealing with Israeli ships, refusing to load them with goods or supply them with fuel or food.
"We pray for the souls of our martyrs, the recovery of the sick and injured, and a swift victory," he said.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the decision to extend the ban to ships en route to Israel.
He said the restrictions are a response to Israel's sidelining of basic humanitarian principles and violation of international laws in its continued assault and atrocities against the people of Palestine.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the government also blocked Israel-based shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd from docking its ships in Malaysia, with immediate effect.
Following that the Transport Ministry confirmed that a ship operated by Israeli shipping company ZIM, scheduled to dock in Port Klang on Monday (Dec 26), is prohibited from doing so.
Its minister, Anthony Loke, said this follows the decision by the Malaysian government to impose an indefinite ban on vessels owned by Israeli shipping companies from docking at all ports in the country with immediate effect starting today.