Riyadh: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has slammed the Israeli decision to extend full control over the entire Gaza Strip and forcibly displace approximately one million Palestinians from Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip to the south. In a statement issued today, the OIC considered this an escalation in the series of crimes of genocide, destruction, starvation, displacement, and Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip.
According to Qatar News Agency, the OIC stressed that these crimes constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a blatant challenge to relevant UN resolutions and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, including the provisional measures ordered by the Court.
The OIC held Israel, as the occupying power, fully responsible for the consequences of these crimes, which exacerbate the unprecedented human suffering in the Gaza Strip. It also condemned the dangerous escalation in the crimes committed by extremist settler groups under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, including continued colonization, land seizure, home demolitions, repeated attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites, and the continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues. It considered these actions blatant violations of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.
The OIC called on the UN Security Council to take immediate and decisive action to assume its responsibilities by imposing a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, ensuring the unhindered and adequate flow of humanitarian aid and basic needs throughout the Gaza Strip, providing effective international protection for the Palestinian people, taking the necessary measures to end the occupation, and enabling the Palestinians to realize the sovereignty of their independent state over the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital.