OIC, Arab League and African Union issue emergency appeal on Gaza humanitarian crisis
JEDDAH — The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Arab League, and the African Union (AU) — the tripartite mechanism to support the Palestinian cause — held a consultative meeting with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Cairo to discuss the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
The tripartite mechanism issued an emergency humanitarian appeal calling for an immediate end to genocide, starvation, blockade, displacement, and destruction, and urged efforts to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
They expressed deep concern over the unprecedented and worsening humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip due to the continued acts of genocide, forced displacement, and systematic destruction committed by the Israeli occupation since October 2023. These actions represent a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, relevant United Nations resolutions, and the binding orders issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
They also firmly condemned the Israeli occupation's use of starvation and siege as weapons of war against Palestinian civilians. They called for the immediate and permanent opening of all land and sea crossings and the unimpeded, adequate, and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid, including food, clean water, fuel, medical supplies, and shelter.
They emphasized that delivering relief to the Palestinian people in Gaza is a legal and moral right, and underscored the urgent need to enable UNRWA to fulfill its critical role amid exceptional conditions and its ongoing financial crisis.
The tripartite mechanism urged the international community to apply effective and sustained pressure on Israel, the occupying force, to allow UNRWA and its partners to operate freely, safely, and without obstruction. They further rejected any attempts to undermine or replace UNRWA's mandate, and called for full political, financial, and legal support for the agency in accordance with its UN-established responsibilities.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
44 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
UN criticizes Germany's plan to deport Afghans
The UN on Friday criticised a plan by Germany to deport criminals to Afghanistan, a day after the interior minister said he would seek direct contact with the Taliban over this issue. Germany stopped deportations following the Taliban's return to power in 2021, but the rise of far-right and anti-immigrant politicians has seen the issue rise up the agenda. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Thursday he envisaged Germany 'making agreements directly with Afghanistan to enable deportations'. But Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the United Nations Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva it was 'not appropriate to return people to Afghanistan'. 'We have been documenting continuing human rights violations in Afghanistan,' she said, including denial of women's rights and executions. Arafat Jamal of the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kabul said his organization still had a 'non-return advisory' in force for Afghanistan. 'In other words... the conditions on the ground are not yet ready for returns,' he said. 'We urge countries not to forcibly return to Afghanistan.'
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
UN records 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys or aid distribution points run by US group
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: The UN human rights office said Friday it has recorded 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and at aid distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization since it first began operations in late May. Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said 'it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points' operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. She said it was not immediately clear how many of those killings had taken place at GHF sites, and how many occurred near convoys. Speaking to reporters at a regular briefing, Shamdasani said the figures covered the period from May 27 through June 27, and 'there have been further incidents' since then. She said she was basing the information on an internal situation report at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Shamdasani said the figures, compiled through its standard vetting processes, were not likely to tell a complete picture, and 'we will perhaps never be able to grasp the full scale of what's happening here because of the lack of access' for UN teams to the areas.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Myanmar ruling junta releases 93 child soldiers after UN criticism
Myanmar's ruling junta said on Friday it has already discharged 93 minors from military service, responding to a United Nations report last month accusing it and its allies of recruiting over 400 children, many in combat roles. In a rare admission published in its mouthpiece newspaper, the junta said it conducted a verification process last year that resulted in the discharge of 93 verified minors, who were also provided with financial assistance. 'To date, only 18 suspected minor cases remain pending verification,' a government-run committee said in a statement published in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Myanmar's military and the armed groups affiliated to it last year recruited 467 boys and 15 girls, including over 370 children used in combat roles, the UN Secretary-General's report on Children and Armed Conflict said. Anti-junta groups had also recruited children, the report said, although their number was far lower than that of the military. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup that unseated an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, causing widespread protests that morphed into a nationwide armed uprising against the powerful military. Established ethnic armies and new armed groups formed in the wake of the coup have gained control over much of Myanmar's borderlands, hemming the junta largely into the country's central plains. The struggling junta in 2024 activated a mandatory military service law, conscripting young people to replenish its depleted ranks after months of relentless fighting forced it to cede swathes of territory. Nearly 3.5 million people were internally displaced in the war-torn country, with children accounting for over 33 percent of that population in 2024, according to UNICEF. The largest proportion of child recruitment appears to have taken place in western Rakhine state, home to the minority Muslim Rohingya community, where the Myanmar military - along with two allies fighting there - enlisted 300 minors, according to the UN report. Reuters reported last year that children as young as 13 were fighting on the frontlines in Rakhine state, citing a UN official and two Rohingya fighters. Millions of Rohingya driven out of Myanmar remain confined in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, where militant recruitment and violence surged last year.
