Arab ministerial meeting opens in Egypt to discuss Israeli war on Gaza

By Ibrahim Khazen

CAIRO (AA) – An Arab ministerial meeting convened in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Addressing the meeting, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for halting the Israeli onslaught on the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "unwilling to agree to a cease-fire in Gaza,” he said.

“There is no choice but to halt the war,” he added.

The ministerial meeting, chaired by Yemen, is also attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, and UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag.

“The Muslim world will do whatever it takes to preserve the Islamic identity of Haram al-Sharif with the same spirit,” said Fidan during his address at the meeting.

He also warned supporters of the Israeli prime minister, saying that they are also accomplices to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

"They will also be held accountable,” he added.

The meeting discusses ways to end the ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, and diplomatic and legal measures to stop aggressive Israeli policies aimed at displacing Palestinians from their land, according to its announced agenda.

It also addresses the situations in several Arab countries such as Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia and security of navigation and energy supplies in the Gulf region.

Israel has continued a brutal military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 41,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 95,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul