17 October 2023; MEMO: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is set to hold an urgent meeting tomorrow to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Strip and its efforts to ethnically cleanse it.
In a statement released on Saturday, the OIC announced: “At the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which chairs the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Organisation’s Executive Committee is convening an urgent open-ended extraordinary meeting at the ministerial level.”
Taking place at the General Secretariat headquarters in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the extraordinary meeting reportedly aims to address “the escalating military situation in Gaza and its environs as well as the deteriorating conditions that endanger the lives of civilians and the overall security and stability of the region.”
Saudi Arabia’s call for the urgent meeting comes amid Israel’s continued imposition of a complete siege on Gaza and cut off of all electricity, water, food, fuel and aid supplies to the territory, as well as its worsening bombardment of the land Strip where over 2.3 million Palestinians live.
The brutal campaign is in retaliation to a significant operation into Israeli-held territory by the Palestinian resistance on 7 October, and Tel Aviv is now attempting to push Gazan Palestinians further south to the Egyptian border – which remains closed – in an apparent effort to entirely clear them out of Gaza and exile them into Egypt’s Sinai desert.
