ISTANBUL, July 22 — The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) says it will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s ongoing assaults against Palestinians, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
In a statement on Monday, the Jeddah-based grouping said the meeting, which will be held at the permanent representatives level, is in regard to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the targeting of holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil (Hebron).
The meeting comes amid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing crimes of genocide, starvation, and displacement committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, and the escalation of Israeli attacks on places of worship, it added.
Separately, Palestine called for an urgent Arab League meeting to be held on Tuesday at the permanent delegates level to discuss the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
According to the official news agency Wafa, the Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the Arab League, Muhannad Al-Aklouk, asked participants to discuss the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinians and their holy sites in the occupied West Bank.
Later, the Arab League announced that it will hold an emergency meeting of its Council at the level of permanent representatives on Tuesday to discuss the escalating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, without providing further details.
At least 18 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza in the last 24 hours alone, the Health Ministry said, highlighting the escalating humanitarian catastrophe as relentless bombardment and deprivation converge to push civilians beyond the brink.
The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, killing more than 59,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of disease.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported a group of 25 Western countries including Britain, France, and Canada as saying on Monday Israel must immediately end its war in Gaza and criticised what they called the “inhumane killing” of Palestinians, including hundreds near food distribution sites.
The countries, in a joint statement, condemned what they called the “drip feeding of aid” to Palestinians in Gaza and said it was horrifying that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the United States and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.
The call by the European countries, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, for an end to the war in Gaza and the delivery of aid comes from many countries which are allied with Israel and its most important backer, the United States.
Among those calling for an end to the war are four out of five countries in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the US.
