Venezuelan craftspeople make toys for Gazan children

As violence rages on in the Gaza Strip, Venezuelan craftspeople gathered Saturday (August 9) in Caracas to fashion hand-made toys for Gazan children.

Dozens of adults and children participated in the toymaking, which was led by local artisans specializing in typical Venezuelan toys, including colorful spinning tops and cloth dolls.

Culture Minister Fidel Barbarito attended the event to show solidarity with children who are huddling in shelters as the Gaza Strip faces regular bombardment from Israel.

"We reiterate our rejection of imperialistic aggression against the people of the world. That is how we understand Israel's aggression against Palestine, an imperialistic aggression against the people of the world. And we raise our loving voice, our outcry for life, for the aggression to stop, for the people of the world to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. And here we have the 1,000 handmade toys, made by our artisans' hands, the hands of our girls and boys, for the girls and boys of Palestine," Barbarito said.

During a workers event Saturday in the coastal state of Vargas just north of Caracas, President Nicolas Maduro emphasized Venezuela's long-time support for Palestinians.

"Don't give up, Palestine, may the world rise up. All of our committed solidarity and a hug to the people of Palestine in their fight for the right to exist in their thousand-year land," he said to a cheering crowd of laborers, wearing red in support of the ruling Socialist Party.

Maduro has maintained the foreign policy of his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chavez, who was popular in the Arab world and broke relations with Israel after accusing it of a "holocaust" for its 2009 offensive in Gaza.

Some domestic critics of Maduro say he should put his own house in order, including sorting out one of the world's worst murder rates, if he wants to condemn violence elsewhere.

Earlier in the day, Israel launched more than 30 air attacks on Gaza, killing five Palestinians, and militants fired rockets at Israel with no reports of injuries, as the conflict entered a second month, defying international efforts to revive a ceasefire.

The violence seemed to delay any progress in talks brokered by Egypt aimed at securing a permanent truce. Israel had no plans to send negotiators back to Cairo "as long as the shooting goes on", an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Egypt is meeting separately with each party. Israel and Hamas deny each other's legitimacy, with Hamas rejecting Israel's right to exist and Israel rejecting Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Gaza officials say the war has killed 1,880 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed in the conflict. — Reuters