3 days ago
Arab League demands urgent action to end Gaza siege amid UN-confirmed famine
ALBAWABA- In a statement issued during an emergency session at its headquarters in Cairo today, the Arab League Council has called on the international community to immediately intervene to end the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.
The Council condemned what it described as Israel's use of starvation as a weapon of war and a form of genocide, warning that the territory has been transformed into a famine zone under a brutal blockade.
The call comes amid verified United Nations reports that dozens of Palestinians have died of hunger, while thousands more have been killed or injured in or near aid distribution centers targeted by Israeli attacks.
القرارات الصادرة عن مجلس جامعة الدول العربية الذي اجتمع اليوم لمناقشة التحرك السياسي والدبلوماسي لمواجهة سياسية التجويع والحصار للشعب الفلسطيني في #غزة كسلاح إبادة جماعية، ومخططات حكومة الاحتلال بسحب صلاحيات بلدية الخليل في المسجد الإبراهيمي ومحيطه. — جامعة الدول العربية (@arableague_gs) July 22, 2025
In its final resolutions, the Council labeled Israel as "the illegal occupying power" and accused it of deliberately creating life, threatening conditions for Gaza's civilian population.
It stressed the need to ensure unrestricted humanitarian, medical, and relief aid to the Strip and to activate international accountability mechanisms to address Israeli violations under the Rome Statute and the 1948 Convention on Genocide.
The Council rejected all efforts to implement alternative humanitarian delivery systems such as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, describing them as lacking legal legitimacy and serving only as tools of oppression and instruments of death under the guise of aid.
The Council urged the international community, particularly the United States, to pressure Israel to open all crossings immediately, allow the entry of life-saving supplies, and end what it described as an ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza.
It also highlighted the grave economic and financial punitive measures imposed by Israel on the Palestinian Authority, including withholding of tax revenues, as part of a broader strategy to undermine Palestinian governance and resilience.
Reaffirming Palestinian sovereignty, the Arab League also condemned Israel's actions in the West Bank, particularly attempts to alter the status quo of the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings in the Old City of Hebron.
The Council warned against continued Israeli settler violence, the desecration of religious sites, and plans to strip the Palestinian municipality in Hebron of its jurisdiction.
It cited the 2017 UNESCO decision that listed the Ibrahimi Mosque and Hebron's Old City as endangered world heritage sites and stressed that Israel holds no legal sovereignty over Palestinian land or heritage.
The Council welcomed the joint statement issued on July 21, 2025, by 28 countries, including 21 EU members, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and others, which called for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza, condemned the policy of starvation, and demanded accountability for those responsible.
It called for sanctions on Israeli officials and extremist settler militias and urged countries to recognize the State of Palestine as a moral and legal obligation.
Solidarity was also expressed with United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and other international officials facing political pressure and harassment for exposing Israeli crimes in Gaza.
The Arab League praised civil society efforts to challenge the siege and called for restoring the work of the former international monitoring mission in Hebron.
The Council tasked Algeria and Somalia, the two Arab members of the UN Security Council, with pushing for an emergency meeting to adopt a resolution compelling Israel to lift the siege and allow humanitarian access.
It also requested Arab ambassadors and missions worldwide to convey the content of the resolution to host governments. The Arab League Secretary-General was instructed to monitor the implementation of the resolution and report to the Council's next session.
