Organization of Islamic Cooperation blasts Israel's 'brutal aggression' against Palestinians

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has denounced “in the strongest terms Israel's brutal aggression” against the Palestinian people as the Tel Aviv regime’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip enters its seventh consecutive day.

In a statement issued after an emergency meeting of the organization at the level of foreign ministers on Sunday, the 57-member body called for an immediate halt of the attacks on civilians, saying they were “a violation of the international law and the UN resolutions.”

It also clearly warned of the dangerous effects of Israel's repeated and deliberate inflammation of religious sensitivities and its provocation of the feelings of the Palestinian people and the Islamic world.

The statement reiterated its rejection of the continued Israeli settlement expansion and the establishment of an apartheid system in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Jerusalem al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque are a red line for the Islamic world, and there will be no security or stability except with their complete liberation from occupation, it stressed.

Addressing the meeting of the OIC that was held virtually, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the massacre by Israel followed the purported “normalization” of ties between certain Arab countries and the Israeli regime.

Zarif argued that “friendly gestures” are proven to aggravate the criminal and genocidal regime’s atrocities against Palestinians. 

The top Iranian diplomat also said the OIC member states should extend the jurisdiction of their national tribunals to include the prosecution of criminals perpetrating war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in the occupied territories.

Zarif: Systematic human rights violations taking place against Palestinians

Foreign Minister Zarif says the sole aim of Israel’s hypocritical gestures is to divide Muslims and isolate the people of Palestine.

Also speaking at the start of the OIC meeting on Sunday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said that “Israel’s practices are an assault on Arabs, Muslims, and international norms.”

Al-Maliki stressed that “the Palestinian people are subjected to an Israeli apartheid ... and they are being uprooted from their lands and rights.”

“The rise of the Palestinian people has made it clear that Jerusalem al-Quds is a red line,” he said, adding “our people will not be exhausted by Israel’s killing machine.”

“We need to tell Allah that we will resist to the last day,” he said. “We are facing a long-term occupation. That’s the base of the problem. Crimes are committed against the Palestinians without consequences.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, among others, also addressed the virtual meeting.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “Israel alone is responsible for the recent escalation in East Jerusalem (al-Quds), the West Bank and Gaza”.

“Our warnings to Israel last week went unheeded,” he said.

Earlier, a senior Iranian human rights official strongly condemned the inaction of Muslim countries regarding the Israeli regime’s attacks on Gaza and the massacre of a large number of Palestinian children and women.

"What other crimes should the Zionists commit so that Muslim countries would convene a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation?” Secretary of the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights Ali Baqeri Kani said.

Iran rights official denounces Muslim states’ inaction on Gaza, urges OIC emergency meeting

A senior Iranian human rights official calls for an extraordinary OIC summit to address Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

He added that holding an OIC extraordinary summit is the “least that Muslim governments can do for the oppressed Palestinian people.”

Israel’s continued aerial bombardment of Gaza has so far killed at least 188 Palestinians, including 55 children and 33 women. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, some 1,230 people have also been injured.

Red Cross calls for an end to Israeli attacks

The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross in a statement said that world leaders should use "maximum influence" to stop the spiraling conflict.

"Ahead of the United Nations Security Council meeting on Sunday, the ICRC calls on the concerned leaders to exert maximum influence to stop the hostilities between Gaza and Israel," it said.

"For people in Gaza, access to hospitals and other vital infrastructure has become very complicated because of the incessant airstrikes and major damage to roads and buildings." 

Wounded Gazans taken to Egypt for treatment

Meanwhile, hundreds of wounded Palestinians from Gaza were taken across the Rafah border crossing into Egypt for medical treatment on Sunday.

Three convoys of 263 Palestinians -- including those wounded in the latest strikes as well as students and travelers with serious ailments -- crossed into Rafah in the restive North Sinai region.

Rafah is the only passage not controlled by Israel to the outside world for Gaza.

Egypt's Red Cross in North Sinai said that medical emergency teams had been dispatched at the Egyptian side to help transport the victims.

Israeli strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the worst reported daily death toll yet in the almost week-long fighting.  

The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the issue after the US objected to a request by China, Norway and Tunisia for a public, virtual meeting of the Council two days earlier, on Friday, despite the continued onslaught adding to the death toll in Gaza each day.

The US, a close ally of Israel, has repeatedly backed the apartheid regime’s acts of brutality as its “right to self-defense.” Washington has failed to even criticize Israel’s bombardment of Al Jalaa tower in Gaza, which housed offices of Al Jazeera, the Associated Press, along with Arab and local press.

Resistance groups in Gaza have put up a brave defense against Israeli aggression and have retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets into the occupied territories.

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