Arab League to convene emergency meeting about 'ongoing genocide in Gaza'

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) — The Arab League will be holding an emergency meeting on Wednesday on possible responses to Israel's "crimes of genocide and starvation" in the Gaza Strip, the 22-member bloc said.

The announcement came on Tuesday from Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Hossam Zaki, who said permanent delegates would convene for the meeting, requested by Palestine, at the league's headquarters in Cairo, according to the Egyptian official news agency.

On Monday, Palestine's representative to the Arab League Muhannad Al Aklouk said he submitted a request to the league's General-Secretariat to hold an extraordinary session at the level of permanent delegates "to discuss the Arab movement over the continuation of the crime of genocide, the starvation policy and forced displacement of the Palestinians being committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip."

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed some 1,200 people.

Over 32,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,300 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar