Iran Urges Dispatch of OIC Team to Gaza to Evaluate Circumstances
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Stressing the need for concerted and urgent efforts to stop the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, the foreign minister of Iran proposed deploying a delegation of Islamic countries to the enclave to assess the humanitarian situation and document the Zionist regime’s war crimes.
Addressing an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah on Wednesday, Hossein Amirabdollahian called on the OIC member states to impose political and economic sanctions on Israel and set up a tribunal to prosecute Israeli leaders for their war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
“The latest crime comes as the Zionist regime collapsed in the wake of Operation al-Aqsa Strom launched… on October 7. America is trying to resuscitate the broken-down Zionist regime through aggression against civilians. The United States is responsible for recent atrocities,” Amirabdollahian noted, Press TV reported.
He also dismissed the Israeli military’s allegations that the Islamic Jihad resistance movement was responsible for a strike on a packed hospital compound in central Gaza, saying that no one would believe that Islamic Jihad would use such a sophisticated bomb against its fellow compatriots.
The Iranian foreign minister slammed as “inhumane” the killing and displacement of Palestinian people, the decision to cut off electricity and water supplies to Gaza as well as restrictions on entry of Palestinians into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied al-Quds, emphasizing that Christian rituals are not even spared from Israeli desecrations.
He noted that Iran, in line with its policy of supporting practical measures to back Palestine, suggests that Muslim countries take coordinated measures to stop war crimes.
“Muslim countries should work towards opening up humanitarian corridors for the besieged residents of the Gaza Strip and their access to drinking water, food and medicine. The OIC member states should also urge the Security Council to issue resolutions in support of Palestine and in condemnation of Israel’s settlement construction,” he stated.
Amirabdollahian also demanded an emergency meeting of the Human Rights Council to deal with Israeli crimes, saying, “It is necessary to impose political and economic sanctions on the regime and members should also set up a tribunal to try Israeli leaders, pilots, army commanders and political figures.”
“The Israeli crimes must stop immediately. Muslim countries should sever relations with the Zionist regime and put an embargo on Israeli goods. Influential religious and Christian figures are also expected to condemn the recent criminal acts,” the top Iranian diplomat stressed.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group waged a surprise attack, dubbed Al-Aqsa Storm operation, against the occupying entity.
So far, 3,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air raids, including more than 1,000 children and 1,000 women.