ISLAMABAD – Pakistani Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani announced on Sunday he would attend an urgent meeting called by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) next week in Jeddah to discuss escalating military tensions in Gaza.
Saudi Arabia, which chairs the OIC’s executive committee, has called an urgent meeting of the body at the ministerial level on Wednesday to discuss the “escalating military situation in Gaza and its environs.”
Israel has intensified its attempts to destroy the Hamas group, relentlessly pounding the Gaza Strip and killing at least 2,215 people since Saturday. The Jewish state has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers near Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive. Its relentless campaign follows last Saturday’s attack by Hamas, which saw hundreds of its fighters cross into Israel to take hostages and kill more than 1,300 people.
“As part of the OIC executive committee from Pakistan, I will be attending the OIC extraordinary meeting on the Palestine issue,” Jilani briefed reporters, adding that turmoil in Palestine was an important issue for Pakistan.
The Pakistani foreign minister condemned Israel’s actions, saying that there is no doubt Israel had committed aggression against Palestinians.
“As a matter of fact, it is a genocide being conducted by Israel against the innocent people of Palestine,” Jilani said.
He condemned the week-long blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces. The humanitarian crisis in the densely populated territory has been aggravated by the blockade, as the territory runs out of fuel, food, medical supplies, and clean drinking water.
“This is a very unfortunate situation in the sense that in Gaza, people have no water, no health facilities, no food, which creates a major humanitarian crisis,” Jilani said.
He said the OIC was a very important forum where the deteriorating human rights situation in Gaza would be discussed at length.
“Certainly, this meeting has many important objectives, number one is to develop a coordinated response of the OIC member countries in respect of the current situation in Palestine,” he added.
He said Pakistan would demand Israel immediately cease its violence against Palestinians, and would then seek to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.
The minister shared that Pakistan was in touch with Egyptian authorities on providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, adding that Israel was not allowing any assistance to reach Gaza currently.
“We are in touch with Muslim countries, including the Saudi government on this issue and I am also looking forward to a bilateral meeting with the Saudi foreign minister during my visit to Jeddah,” he added.
He reiterated Pakistan’s position on the matter, saying that Islamabad demands Israel respect international law by recognizing the right of self-determination of the people of Palestine.
Jilani said the current situation was a result of several decades of illegal occupation by Israel of Palestinian territories. Those territories should be vacated as per UN Security Council Resolutions, the foreign minister added.
“To equate Israel who is an aggressor with the Palestinians’ struggle is unacceptable to Pakistan,” he explained. “Their [Israeli] settlements were increasing, and the rights of Palestinians were decreasing in the area.”
He said Pakistan is coordinating with UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations to provide immediate assistance and relief to Gaza through its missions in New York and Geneva.
