ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has condemned Israel’s massacre in Gaza in strong words, urging the international community to take steps to end the massacre in Gaza being conducted by Israeli forces.
The foreign minister was addressing an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday where Shah Mahmood Qureshi lambasted Israel for its tyrannical measures, which include bombing Gaza and killing scores of innocent children.
Blaming the Israeli forces for killing unarmed Palestinians, the minister said it was up to the international community to take concrete measures to stop the bloodbath in Palestine.
He said, “Israel is violating human rights laws in Gaza, slammed the foreign minister. The attack on the Palestinians is a violation of international law as well,” FM Qureshi regretted.
“Pakistan condemns Israel’s aggression in strong words, he said. Israel’s aggression in Gaza should stop instantly,” he demanded.
Today, at the Emergency Meeting of the @OIC_OCI I reiterated the following:
➖Support for Palestinian cause defining principle of ???????? foreign policy
➖ Indiscriminate use of force by Israeli forces against defenceless Palestinians defies all international law. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/Z1TmegRtoI— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) May 16, 2021
Qureshi added that there “comes a time in the history of nations when decisions are taken remembered by posterity and it is important to be on the right side of history,” adding that this was one such moment. “We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture.”
The foreign minister also thanked the OIC for arranging an emergency meeting to condemn Israeli atrocities in the region.
There comes a time in the history of nations when decisions taken are remembered by posterity and it is important to be on the right side of history. This is one such moment. We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture. 4/4 #PakistanForPalestine
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) May 16, 2021
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in a joint statement called for an immediate halt to what it described as Israel’s barbaric attacks on Gaza and blamed “systematic crimes” against the Palestinians.
The OIC statement came after a virtual meeting in which Saudi Arabia condemned the violation of the sanctity of Muslim holy sites and evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem.
The 57-member body accused the United Nations Security Council of inertia. Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei issued a separate statement, tweeted by Malaysia’s premier, calling for an emergency U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Joint Leaders Statement of Indonesia ????????, Malaysia ???????? and Brunei Darussalam ???????? on the Escalation of Violence by Israelis in the Occupied Palestinian ???????? Territory pic.twitter.com/WTYr37XeBF
— Muhyiddin Yassin (@MuhyiddinYassin) May 16, 2021
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates called for a ceasefire. The UAE and Bahrain had along with other Arab states last year broken a longstanding taboo in the region by establishing formal ties with Israel, with tacit approval from Gulf power Riyadh.
“De-escalation and the highest degree of restraint are important to avoid dragging the region to new levels of instability,” said UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem al-Hashimy.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud opened the OIC meeting by urging the global community to end the escalation in violence and revive peace negotiations based on a two-state solution.
Turkish foreign ministry sources said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called for an international protection mechanism for Palestinian civilians and told the OIC that Israel should be held accountable for war crimes and that the International Criminal Court could play a role.
His Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the international community to start a “political and legislative” campaign against Israel, Iranian state media said.
Israel continued with its deadly bombing on Sunday, as the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza surged past 181, with more than 41 children and scores of other women killed in the bombings as well.
At least 33 people died in Gaza after 150 Israeli airstrikes hit the besieged enclave in one hour on Sunday in what a Palestinian security source said was the “most intense” shelling since the second intifada or uprising that began in 2000.
Rescue teams worked to pull out dead from vast piles of smoking rubble and toppled buildings as relatives wailed in terror and sorrow.
Rescue officials said almost half of the rockets targeted the Gaza City district of al-Wehda where residential houses, infrastructure and roads were destroyed.
Health officials confirmed 34 people were killed overnight – including Dr Ayman Abu al-Ouf, head of internal medicine at Shifa hospital – following Israeli bombardment on their homes. Five children were found alive under the debris, the health ministry added.
“We can still hear people shouting from under the rubble,” said Medhat Hamdan, a civil defense worker who came from Khan Younis to Gaza City and worked nonstop for 11 hours to save lives.
“Continuing to search for martyrs or missing from the massacre on Al-Wehda Street after retrieving more than 34 martyrs, most of them children and women,” a Palestinian-affiliated, youth-oriented media service tweeted.
مواصلة البحث عن شــهــداء أو مفقودين من مجـــزرة شارع الوحدة بعد انتــشال أكثر من 34 شــهيـدًا غالبيتهم من الأطفال والنساء#GazaUnderAttack #غزة_تحت_القصف pic.twitter.com/yjvNFxmQQ5
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 16, 2021
