Residents of the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines who were displaced during the siege in 2017 condemned the continuing attacks on Palestine.
Drieza Lininding, chairperson of the Moro Consensus Group, said what happened in Gaza also happened in Marawi four years ago.
“It is also possible that what is happening to the Palestinian people will happen in other Bangsamoro areas,” he said. “We must be careful,” said Lininding.
On Sunday, the local government unit of Marawi and the provincial government of Lanao del Sur joined Muslim countries in condemning Israeli attacks on Palestine.
Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra expressed dismay over “the hostilities and violence committed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people.”
“We stand with other Islamic and peace-loving countries that are praying for a stop to the hostilities and for a just, equitable and peaceful solution to the strife,” he said.
“We ourselves experienced the devastating effects that such a conflict can bring to both sides, having experienced one of the worst sieges in the history of our country,” added the mayor.
In 2017, thousands of Marawi residents fled the city after gunmen who pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State attacked and occupied the city.
The shooting war lasted for five months and destroyed billions of pesos worth of properties.
“While it can be said that our experience with armed conflict lasted only for half a year, we are fully aware of the far, long-reaching tragic effects it can bring,” said Gandamra.
“It is something that we do not wish to happen to others,” he said.
On Saturday, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet appealed for a de-escalation in tensions and urged all sides to respect international law.
She noted that over the past 10 days, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel has deteriorated at an “alarming rate.”
Bachelet said that “rather than seeking to calm tensions, inflammatory rhetoric from leaders on all sides appears to be seeking to excite tensions rather than to calm them.”
Meanwhile, casualties continue to mount in exchanges between the Israeli Defense Forces and those from the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Bachelet warned that the firing of large numbers of indiscriminate rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel, including densely populated areas, amounts to war crimes.
There are also concerns that some attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza “targeted civilian objects that, under international humanitarian law, do not meet the requirements to be considered as military objectives.”
