File Photo: Arab League foreign ministers meet during an annual meeting in Cairo, Egypt. AFP
Early on Tuesday, Israel resumed its war on Gaza, launching a series of deadly airstrikes.
Those brutal attacks have killed over 500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured a similar number so far. At least 58 of them were killed overnight as Israel continued its heavy strikes across the strip.
The move marks Israel's most monstrous violation of its fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas, which took effect on 19 January.
"Those raids violate the Gaza ceasefire agreement, UN resolutions, international charters, treaties, agreements, and humanitarian law," the committee affirmed in a statement.
It stressed that the attacks worsen the already deteriorating humanitarian situation in the strip, threaten regional stability and security, risk a wider conflict, and undermine de-escalation efforts.
According to the statement, the ministerial committee reiterated its call for the international community to uphold its moral and legal responsibilities and immediately intervene to pressure Israel to halt its aggression and violations.
Moreover, it urged Israel to comply with UN resolutions, international law, and international humanitarian law and ensure Palestinian civilians are protected from its unjust war machine.
The committee also called on Israeli authorities to immediately and fully restore Gaza’s electricity supply and open all crossings to allow a continuous and unhindered humanitarian aid flow amid the territory's unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
In early March, Israel ordered an immediate halt to Gaza’s electricity supply to pressure Hamas into accepting new ceasefire terms, blocking all aid deliveries to the devastated, aid-dependent strip — an act of collective punishment using starvation.
Additionally, the committee affirmed the urgent need for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, an end to Israeli escalation, and the resumption of dialogue and negotiations for implementing all stages of the ceasefire agreement to ultimately end the war and prevent a renewed cycle of violence.
The statement also reaffirmed the committee's steadfast commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace for the Palestinians through the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative, aligning with UN resolutions, international law, and agreed parameters.
It further asserted its commitment to protect the Palestinians' legitimate rights in establishing their independent state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The ministerial committee was formed on 11 November 2023 by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit in Riyadh. It aims to halt the ongoing Gaza war and address the Palestinians' worsening humanitarian conditions by prompting immediate international action.
It consists of the FMs of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Palestine, Turkey, Indonesia, and Nigeria and the secretary-generals of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
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