The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) yesterday said Tuesday’s attack by Israeli forces on Al-Ahli Baptismal Hospital in Gaza was a war crime against humanity and a state-sponsored terrorism that deserves accountability and punishment.
The Secretary-General of the OIC, Hussein Ibrahim Taha, who spoke at the emergency meeting the body held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, described the attack as “horrific massacre”.
Taha held the Israeli occupation responsible for “the consequences of its terrorist acts and brutal aggression, which contradict all human values and constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
He reiterated his call to the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council, to urgently intervene to halt the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for Palestinians.
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This is even as the OIC called on the international community to take a responsible stance to protect the Palestinians in Gaza amidst the raging war between Israel and Hamas.
It also sought aid for Gaza to prevent humanitarian crisis, urged the international community to create conditions for peace and stressed the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state.
The 57-member bloc of Muslim-majority countries denounced Israel’s backers for granting “impunity” in the war in Gaza.
A statement issued after the meeting said the OIC “deplores the international positions that back the brutal aggression against the Palestinian people, and grant Israel impunity, taking advantage of the double standards that provide cover for the occupying power”.
The OIC also condemned Israel for committing Gaza’s hospital massacre and emphasised the need to protect the Palestinian people.
A rocket strike had on Tuesday hit a Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza City which killed about 500 Palestinians.
At the OIC meeting, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, was quoted by Ahramonline as saying that “The siege on Gaza must be lifted.”
He called on the international community to take a responsible stance to protect the Palestinians in Gaza.
“We stress the necessity of delivering aid to Gaza to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe”, Farhan added.
He said the OIC called on the international community to “create conditions for peace in a way that guarantees the rights of the Palestinian people.
“We stress the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state”, he said.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh al-Maliki described the strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza as a “deliberate” Israeli attack, stressing that the strip’s residents are being subjected to genocide.
Al-Maliki noted that the Israeli military had attacked the same hospital two days earlier and warned doctors there.
He said that Israel’s “war machine” had killed over 1,300 children in Gaza and slammed the international community that does nothing but “count the number of victims in Gaza.”
Al-Maliki also said Israel killed a child every 15 minutes and had displaced a million Palestinians in one week.
“Israel continues to starve those it has displaced from their homes”, he added.
For his part, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdullahian, said the region was out of control and called for practical measures to be taken during the summit in response to the escalation in Gaza.
Abdullahian criticized his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, whom, he said, “is present in the Zionist operations room while advising others to exercise restraint.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan observed that Israel’s perpetration of “atrocities” was not being met with necessary punishment, emphasizing the need for an unconditional ceasefire.
He noted that Palestinians face continuous suffering and death, saying “a two-state solution is optimal and enduring.”
Israel, Hamas trade blames
Israel has denied that the explosion at the Gaza hospital was caused by its Iron Dome missile defence system, which seeks to protect Israeli territory from Gaza rocket attacks, with Hagari saying the system was not used to “intercept rockets inside Gaza” but prevent them from hitting Israeli territory.
“The evidence – which we are sharing with you all – confirms that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday.
He said no Israeli army fire “by land, sea or air” hit the hospital and that Israel’s trajectory analysis showed the rockets were fired “in close proximity to the hospital.”
Hamas, in a statement, said Israel “is directly responsible for this horrific massacre which was carried out… with American weapons only the occupation possesses”.
The Gaza health ministry had said at least 471 people had been killed and over 300 wounded, some in critical condition.
US vetoes UN resolution
The United States yesterday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which called for a “humanitarian pause” in the raging Israel-Hamas conflict.
Twelve out of 15 Council members voted in favour of the resolution put forward by Brazil and negotiated over several days; while Russia and the United Kingdom abstained. The US was the only vote against it, but as one of the body’s five permanent members, its vote counts as a veto.
“The United States is disappointed this resolution made no mention of Israel’s rights of self-defence,” US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said after the vote.
The resolution said the Council “firmly condemns all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism.”
It said the body “unequivocally rejects and condemns the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas… and the taking of hostages.”
The resolution also “urges all parties to fully comply with their obligations under international law.”
The vote was after the Security Council on Monday rejected a Russian resolution condemning spiraling violence in the Middle East.
The resolution did not single out Hamas for its surprise attack on Israel on October 7 and it was rejected by permanent members, the United States, the United Kingdom and France as well as Japan.
Joe Biden declares support for Israel
US President Joe Biden, on a trip to Israel to show solidarity, yesterday said he was “deeply saddened and outraged” by the hospital explosion and backed Israel’s account.
“Based on the information we’ve seen to date, it appears as a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza,” he added, after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
Biden said he had seen “data” from the US Defense Department backing his assertion that Palestinian militants, not Israel, were to blame for a devastating strike on a Gaza hospital.
Asked by reporters in Tel Aviv what made him sure that Israel was not responsible for the strike that killed hundreds on Tuesday, Biden replied, “the data I was shown by my defence department”.
Governments in Arab countries and the wider Muslim world have largely backed Hamas’ accounts of the incident, expressing outrage at Israeli strikes on civilian populations.
Even countries with diplomatic relations with Israel, such as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, had blamed Israel for the strike.
We’re ready for discussion–Palestinian ambassador
Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdallah Shawesh, has said his country is ready to sit down with Israel to resolve their differences.
At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, he said Palestine had always been in favour of dialogue that would result in a two-state situation.
“We’re ready to go to the negotiation table. Israel is the one not ready for discussion,” Shawesh.
Asked if Palestine was ready to give Hamas up to return to the negotiation table with Israel, he said: “Resistance is a natural behaviour in all people.
“All Palestinian people are fighting Israeli occupation. It’s not about Hamas. If Hamas is not there, we will still resist Israel’s occupation. Our resistance is legitimate.”
Shawesh alleged that Israel was planning to expel Palestinian people to Egypt.
He called for a two-state solution, adding that the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza belong to the Palestinian people.
