UPDATE – Gulf summit opens in Kuwait amid calls for Gaza cease-fire

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, REVISES HEADLINE, ADDS CHANGES

By Ibrahim Khazen

CAIRO (AA) – The 45th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit opened in Kuwait on Sunday, bringing together leaders and representatives of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Oman, and the host nation.

Participants will discuss a host of topics, including regional security, Gulf economic integration, and a range of global and regional challenges, according to the Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA.

Key topics on the agenda also include developments in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.

In his opening speech, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah called on the UN Security Council to enforce an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

He also denounced “the genocide committed against the Palestinian people” in Gaza, and urged "the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to fulfill its responsibilities by ensuring the implementation of relevant resolutions, halting the violence, providing international protection for innocent civilians, and securing safe corridors for urgent humanitarian aid.”

The emir reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering support to Palestine and to end the Israeli occupation, attain all their political rights, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international resolutions.”

Sunday’s event marks the eighth summit hosted by Kuwait. It has organized seven GCC summits since the Gulf bloc was formed in 1981.

Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack last October, killing over 44,400 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 105,000.

The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.

On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi