MUSCAT/JEDDAH: The Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday announced $100 million in emergency aid for the Gaza Strip, as the Zionist entity bombards targets in the enclave during its war against Hamas militants. After an extraordinary meeting in Muscat, the bloc’s foreign ministers pledged “an urgent humanitarian relief operation” with “relief aid worth $100 million”.

The top diplomats of the six GCC countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — met as nearly 500 people were killed in strikes on a Gaza hospital compound sheltering displaced people. The GCC meeting’s final statement stressed “the necessity of ensuring the urgent delivery of this aid” without specifying how it will get to Gaza.

In recent days, Gulf countries have sent planeloads of assistance to Egypt’s El Arish, hoping to send it through the Rafah border point — Gaza’s only crossing that is not under Zionist control. On Tuesday, hundreds of laden trucks headed along the 40-km road from El Arish to Rafah, aid officials said. GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi “called on the international community to... demand an immediate halt to all forms of military escalation against defenseless civilians in Gaza”, an English statement on the GCC website said.

The international community must also “categorically reject any calls to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from Gaza, as this represents a violation of basic human rights and international principles”, it added.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday denounced the Zionist entity’s backers for granting the country “impunity” in its war in Gaza. The 57-member bloc of Muslim-majority countries “deplores the international positions

GCC Seretary General Mohamed al-Budaiwi (L) and Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad al-Busaidi hold a press conference after the extraordinary meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in Muscat October 17, 2023. The GCC on October 17 announced $100 million in emergency aid for the Gaza Strip, as Israel bombards targets in the enclave during its war against Hamas militants. (Photo by Haitham AL-SHUKAIRI / AFP)

that back the brutal aggression against the Palestinian people, and grant (the Zionist entity) impunity, taking advantage of the double standards that provide cover for the occupying power”, said an OIC statement published after an emergency meeting of foreign ministers.

The same statement blamed the Zionist entity for a rocket strike on Gaza’s Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital that killed 471 people. Arab countries have also individually blamed the Zionist entity for the incident that has inflamed anger across the Middle East. The OIC, based in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, called on the international community “to hold the (Zionist) occupation accountable for these heinous war crimes against the Palestinian people”.

It also condemned the United Nations Security Council for failing to stop the violence. “Everyone who gave (the Zionist entity) carte blanche to wage this deadly war, provided it with weapons, and even sent military reinforcements to support it in committing this heinous crime, colluded with this crime,” Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki said in his remarks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the Zionist entity was acting “with the full support of the United States and some Western countries”. Earlier, he told reporters in Jeddah that Islamic countries with diplomatic ties with the Zionist entity should expel its ambassadors and “stop exporting oil to this regime”, though the OIC statement did not mention such steps. – Agencies