Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani will raise Pakistan’s concerns regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in the ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
More than 2,800 Palestinians were martyred and over 10,000 have been injured due to the ongoing Israeli aerial bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip which commenced after more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and 3,500 were wounded after the October 7 Hamas attack.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said that Jilani – during the OIC meeting over the Gaza situation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today (Wednesday) – will “emphasize the urgent need for a ceasefire, lifting of the siege and provision of relief assistance to the people of Gaza”.
The foreign minister will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other OIC member states, the FO added. The development comes as a day earlier Pakistan announced to send humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the besieged Palestinians who are facing the brunt of Israel’s oppression.
“Given the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza, the government of Pakistan has decided to immediately dispatch humanitarian relief assistance to Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian brothers and sisters,” the FO said while denouncing Israel’s indiscriminate aggression and siege of the densely populated Gaza Strip.
Pakistan is collaborating with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, relevant United Nations (UN) agencies, the government of Egypt, and the country’s foreign missions abroad to deliver aid to the Palestinians.
FM Jilani, while speaking to his Egyptian, Iranian, and Turkish counterparts discussed the provision of humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza.
“We agreed on imperatives of a permanent solution to the Palestine issue while seeking 1)ceasefire; 2) relief corridor,3) end to Israeli settlements; 4) release of prisoners 5) 2 State solution based on UN Resolutions,” Jilani wrote on X regarding his talk with Turkish foreign minister.
With only four or five days’ worth of supplies remaining in the stores, the UN’s World Food Programme reported that the food situation in the blockaded and beleaguered Gaza Strip was getting worse.
The WFP said stocks were getting low in warehouses inside the Palestinian enclave, but at the shop level, the situation was even more acute.
“The situation in Gaza is getting worse by the minute: the humanitarian situation but also of course the food security situation,” WFP’s Middle East spokeswoman Abeer Etefa, told reporters at the UN in Geneva via video link from Cairo. “Our food supplies within Gaza are running really short,” she added. More than one million people have fled their homes in Gaza in scenes of chaos and despair as Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and continued amassing troops Monday in preparation for a full-blown ground invasion.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office has raised alarm over the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian enclave, calling for an “urgent need” to halt hostilities to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.