Saudi Arabia on Saturday called for an "urgent extraordinary meeting" of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the Israel-Gaza war. The top grouping of Islamic nations seek to address the "military escalation" and "threat to defenceless civilians in Gaza”. Saudi Arabia, which currently chairs the session of the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee of the OIC, has invited the member nations for the meeting on Wednesday in Jeddah.
“At the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which chairs the current session of the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Organization’s Executive Committee is convening an urgent open-ended extraordinary meeting at the ministerial level, to address the escalating military situation in Gaza and its environs as well as the deteriorating conditions that endanger the lives of civilians and the overall security and stability of the region,” read a statement by the OIC on its website on Saturday.
“The extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the OIC will take place on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at the General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah Governorate,” it added.
The OIC is a grouping of 57 Islamic countries spread over four continents and is the second largest organisation after the United Nations.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, and Iran are some of the member nations of this grouping along with Palestine.
Around 1,800 people are reported to have been killed in Israeli airstrikes which came after Gaza’s militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
Saudi Arabia, which called on to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Palestine, has put its United States-backed plans to normalise ties with Israel on ice amid the tensions and has also engaged with Iran on the issue to to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.
Meanwhile, Iran has called on Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza and warned that if Hezbollah enters the fight, the conflict might spread to other regions of the Middle East, causing Israel to face a “huge earthquake”.