Islamic envoys in Brussels call for ‘immediate’ Gaza cease-fire

Islamic ambassadors in Brussels on Monday called for an “immediate, full and unconditional” cease-fire in Gaza, urging the EU to push Israel to halt its “barbaric military assaults” and quickly provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

“This is the most urgent message to our colleagues in the European Union: we must stop this cycle of systemic killing and targeting of civilians in Gaza,” said Badr Abdelatty, Egyptian ambassador to the EU.

In a joint press conference Monday, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) ambassadors condemned Israel’s ongoing violence in the besieged enclave, which to date has killed more than 11,000 people according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, after Hamas sparked a new war by killing around 1,200 people in Israel during a violent attack on October 7.

The envoys asked the EU and its members to force Israel to commit to an immediate and complete cease-fire.

“Today, 12,000 people, including 5,000 children and 3,000 women have been killed in Gaza. What are you waiting for in Europe? If we wait long, the death toll will soon amount to 20,000 people and they will say 20,000 is too much, that I exaggerate,” said Ambassador Abdalrahim Alfarra, head of the Palestinian Mission to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg.

In their statement, the OIC envoys have also called for the urgent opening of humanitarian corridors to Gaza — to deliver life-saving supplies to the more than 2 million people living in the coastal strip of land — and for the international protection of Palestinians.

“As we speak, the numbers continue to increase and the bombing continues to wreak havoc, without respite, among a population already deprived of its vital needs,” said Mohamed Mahmoud Brahim Khlil of Mauritania, current chair of the OIC council of foreign ministers.

“Those who are opposing an immediate cease-fire, those who are talking about Israel’s right of self-defense, are practically giving a blank check for Israel to continue its massive killings of innocent people in Gaza,” Egypt’s Abdelatty added.

The OIC on Saturday held a summit with the League of Arab States in Saudi Arabia, where Muslim and Arab leaders drafted a joint resolution calling for an international peace conference and for an end to Israel’s siege in Gaza.