Pakistan urges UN Security Council to 'intervene,' impose cease-fire to end Palestinian 'massacre'

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan urged the UN Security Council on Thursday to "intervene" and impose a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to bring an end to the "massacre" of Palestinian people by Israel.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Islamabad endorsed a statement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which condemned the Israeli military "aggression" against Gaza.

"Pakistan calls on the UN Security Council to fulfill its responsibility mandated under the Charter of the United Nations and to urgently intervene to impose a ceasefire and bring an end to the massacre of the Palestinian people," Baloch told reporters in Islamabad.

She urged countries who suspended funding to the UN Relief Agency for Palestine to immediately reverse that decision and said the Gaza siege must be lifted to prevent additional deaths and suffering from "famine and non-availability of decent medical care."

"Pakistan stands resolute in its unwavering diplomatic, moral, political, and humanitarian support to the besieged people of Gaza," she added.

Islamabad also endorsed a recent OIC statement where the Muslim bloc raised the alarm about the expansion of Israeli attacks and warned against an unacceptable attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land.

"Israel’s merciless onslaught against the 1.4 million displaced people in Rafah is a blatant defiance of the provisional measures outlined by the International Court of Justice in its interim order," said Baloch.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas. The ensuing attack by Israel has killed at least 28,576 victims and injured 68,291. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

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

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.