- Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
- Foreign ministers urge the US and international community to do more.
- Humanitarian aid for Gaza civilians is desperately needed.
The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia stated on Friday in Washington that there needs to be a viable roadmap for the establishment of a Palestinian state and that there needs to be an immediate end to the war in Gaza, despite the fact that governments across the world do not seem to view it as a priority.
Prior to meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a group of foreign ministers stated at a joint press conference that the priority should continue to be putting an immediate end to the violence between Hamas militants and the Israeli troops in the Palestinian enclave.
“Our message is consistent and clear that we believe that it is absolutely necessary to end the fighting immediately,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said.
“One of the disturbing facts of this conflict is that ending the conflict and the fighting doesn’t seem to be the main priority for the international community,” he said.
“I certainly would hope that our partners in the US will do more… We certainly believe they can do more,” the Saudi minister added.
He stated that a major increase in humanitarian help was required for Gaza’s civilian population and that it was “unacceptable” that aid “is being restricted and has been restricted” due to “bureaucratic obstacles.”
A vote by the UN Security Council on a resolution calling for an urgent humanitarian cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict was postponed for several hours on Friday in order to accommodate Blinken’s scheduled meeting with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Arab nations. The ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkiye make up the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee.
At the news conference, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stated that if the resolution fails on Friday, it will be allowing Israel “to continue with its massacre.”
“Our priority for now is to stop the war, stop the killing, stop the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure,” he said.
“The message that’s being sent is that Israel is acting above international law … and the world is simply not doing much.
We disagree with the United States on its position vis-à-vi the cease-fire,” he said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stated, “The solution is a cease-fire,” while his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi referred to ending hostilities as the top priority.
“If the UN Security Council fails to adopt the resolution that is simply calling for humanitarian pauses, that is giving Israel a license to continue its massacre against civilians in Gaza,” he said.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, demanded that the Gaza War end immediately and that a global peace conference be held to devise a long-term political solution that would result in the creation of a Palestinian state.
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