OIC Envoys Urge International Action on Gaza
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Permanent representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states in the UN European headquarters in Geneva called on the concerned international bodies to take serious action to stop the Israeli crimes against the people of Gaza.
In four separate letters to four UN bodies, the OIC ambassadors to the UN, including Iran’s representative, have emphasized the necessity for taking immediate action to protect people in the besieged Gaza Strip agaisnt the Israeli attacks.
The letters have been sent to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as a number of UN special rapporteurs, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Israel said on Sunday it had expanded its ground offensive in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Gaza residents said land and naval shellings were the heaviest in 13 days of the conflict. Explosions rocked the coastal enclave overnight and shells fired by Israeli naval forces lit up the sky.
Israel has launched a ground invasion in the Gaza Strip since Thursday after 10 days of bombardment of the enclave from the air and sea.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and nearly 2,700 other have been wounded in the 13-day Israeli assault on the densely-populated enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians.
About 75 percent of the deaths in Gaza have been civilians, according to UN estimates.