By Ibrahim al-Khazen
CAIRO (AA) - The Arab League opened an emergency meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Monday to discuss Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Held at the level of permanent delegates, the meeting convened upon a request from Palestine to discuss ways of halting the Israeli war, which has killed more than 25,000 people since Oct. 7.
Monday’s meeting, chaired by Morocco, will not be attended by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, who is currently in Brussels to attend a meeting with the foreign ministers of the EU, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
The meeting is expected to discuss preparations for an international peace conference aimed at implementing the "two-state solution” for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Participants will also discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers over the ongoing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,295 Palestinians and injuring 63,000. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced 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.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio