Amid the escalation of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an urgent meeting on Wednesday, October 18, to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, and ongoing efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestinians.
Taking place at the General Secretariat headquarters in the Saudi city of Jeddah at the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which chairs the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Organisation’s Executive Committee discussed the Israeli continuous aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Charter of OIC
Recalling the principles and objectives contained in the Charter of the Organization regarding Palestine, the Executive Committee made a clear stand and said that the organisation supports the cause of Palestine and stands with the city of Al Al-Quds Al-Sharif.
In a statement Executive Committee said, “We support the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, especially their right to self-determination and the return of Palestinian refugees, their right to independence, and the sovereign State of Palestine on the borders of June 4th, 1967, with its capital, Al-Quds Al-Sharif.”
The committee members further state that the Palestinians have the right to self-defence to confront Israeli aggression that targets their lives, properties and sanctities in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Cessation of barbarism
In the statement, the Executive Committee also addressed the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and condemned the constant aggression by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians.
“We condemnation of the unprecedented aggression against civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and the entire occupied Palestinian territory by killing, bombing, deliberately destroying infrastructure, threatening to commit atrocities and to exterminate them” it added.
The OIC members accused Israel is targeting civilians under the pretext and displacing them from their homes, keeping them starving and depriving them of safe access to humanitarian aid in contravention of all international norms and laws, and of the most basic humanitarian principles and values.
Humanitarian aid
The Committee members call upon all countries to assist Palestinians and provide them with humanitarian aid including, water, medical and electricity. They also urged to open humanitarian corridors immediately in order to deliver urgent aid to the Gaza Strip and said the organisation supports the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital
The Committee members said that “Israel’s brutal” occupation forces have targeted Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip where hundreds of sick people lost their lives. Terming the blast of the Hospital a “war crime”, the organisation members said that it was extermination and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
The organisation members called upon the international community to act swiftly and to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for these heinous war crimes against the Palestinians and humanity and called for immediate intervention to halt the ethnic cleansing.
Gaza starvation
While addressing the necessity crisis in the Gaza Strip, the OIC body members held Israel solely responsible for the fate of the Gaza people and said that they are being subjected to bombardment siege, and starvation, without electricity, food, or clean water, and forced to flee from their homes.
The body described this “collective punishment” as a violation of international law and international humanitarian law according to the Geneva Conventions.
Arab Peace Initiative
The body members called upon international actors to engage in sponsoring a serious political path to achieve peace based on ending the illegal Israeli occupation that had begun in 1967 and implementing the two-state solution, within a clear time frame, as stipulated in the rules of international law and United Nations resolutions, and referring to the Peace process and the Arab Peace Initiative.
| 
