PM Kakar to attend OIC summit in Saudi Arabia on Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar will attend an ‘extraordinary summit’ of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), convened by Saudi Arabia, to discuss the escalating military situation in Gaza, ARY News reported on Monday.

In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said PM Kakar will pay an official visit to Saudi Arabia this week to attend the OIC’s extraordinary summit on Gaza escalation.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7.

Israel relentlessly bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip, levelling entire city blocks and killing thousands, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Palestinian health ministry said at least 10,022 Palestinians have since been killed, including 4,104 children. International organisations have said hospitals cannot cope with the wounded and food and clean water are running out with aid deliveries nowhere near enough.

Amid the conflict, Saudi Arabia convened an extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the escalating military situation in Gaza.

The extraordinary summit will take place on November 12 as leaders of the Islamic countries are expected to attend.

#OIC will hold an extraordinary Islamic summit at the invitation of the Kingdom of #SaudiArabia, in its capacity as Chair of the current Islamic Summit, on Sunday, 28 Rabi’ul Thani 1445, corresponding to 12 November 2023, in #Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. #OICSummitOnPalestine pic.twitter.com/D7ew15CMje

— OIC (@OIC_OCI) November 6, 2023

The official statement said that the summit to be held in Riyadh would discuss the “brutal aggression against the Palestinian people.”

The OIC’s executive committee earlier held an extraordinary session in Saudi Arabia on October 18 in response to the escalating military situation in Gaza.

The meeting was co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

It was decided that the council of foreign ministers’ meeting would be convened to discuss practical measures to stop genocide in Gaza.

However, since then the situation has further deteriorated, compelling the OIC to convene the summit.

The Executive Committee meeting after its extraordinary session last month issued a joint communiqué, accusing Israel for committing “war crimes”.

It also strongly criticised the UN Security Council for failing to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe but more importantly launched a broadside against the Israeli backers for their “double standards” and held them responsible for encouraging the Jewish State to commit atrocities with impunity.

It urged the international community to act swiftly and to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for these heinous war crimes against the Palestinian people and humanity at large, and called for immediate intervention to halt the massacre.