Pan-Islamic grouping convenes to discuss Israeli ‘crimes’

RIYADH

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Wednesday to discuss Israeli “crimes” against the Palestinian people and “aggressions” against Iran’s sovereignty.

The meeting was held at the level of the OIC foreign ministers, the pan-Islamic organization said in a statement.

In his opening speech, OIC Secretary-General Hussein Ibrahim Taha expressed his “strong condemnation of the war crimes and daily genocide committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.”

“The persistence of the Israeli occupation in committing these crimes represents a flagrant disregard by Israel, the occupying power, for all prohibitions, norms, international laws, and resolutions,” he added.

He called last week’s assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran “an attack on Iran's sovereignty and national security” and a “blatant violation of the principles of international law and the provisions of the UN Charter.”

Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president. While Hamas and Iran accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh’s assassination, Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

The escalation comes amid Israel’s devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala