Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, US Lawmakers Discuss Situation in Gaza

The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
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Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, US Lawmakers Discuss Situation in Gaza

The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA

Members of the Ministerial Committee, assigned by the Riyadh-hosted Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit, met Thursday with US lawmakers in Washington.

The meeting with members of the US House of Representatives and Senate was attended by Committee Chairman and Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and the Turkish Ambassador to Washington Hasan Murat Mercan, who represented his country in the committee.

Meeting participants discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings, the military escalation, and efforts exerted to impose an immediate ceasefire, protect civilians, and ensure application of international law and the international humanitarian law.

Members of the committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency humanitarian, food, and medical assistance into Gaza.

Members underscored the need for active roles of parliaments and civil-society organizations in urging governments to end the Israeli occupation authorities’ violations against the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.

Committee members also stressed the importance of reviving the political track to achieve comprehensive and lasting peace following the ceasefire based on a two-state solution and the relevant international resolutions that can lead to realizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinians in establishing their independent and sovereign state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.



Israel Attacks Yemeni Ports, Warns That Houthi Leader Is a Target

Smoke billows after Israeli strikes on Hodeidah port, Yemen, July 21, 2024. (Reuters file)
Smoke billows after Israeli strikes on Hodeidah port, Yemen, July 21, 2024. (Reuters file)
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Israel Attacks Yemeni Ports, Warns That Houthi Leader Is a Target

Smoke billows after Israeli strikes on Hodeidah port, Yemen, July 21, 2024. (Reuters file)
Smoke billows after Israeli strikes on Hodeidah port, Yemen, July 21, 2024. (Reuters file)

Israel struck Yemen's Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Salif on Friday, continuing its campaign to degrade Houthi military capabilities and warning that the group's top leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, could be targeted if attacks on Israel persist.

The Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, although they have agreed to halt attacks on US ships.

Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes in response, including one on May 6 that damaged Yemen's main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.

On Friday, the Israeli military said the ports of Hodeidah and Salif were being used to transfer weapons, reiterating its warnings to residents of those areas to evacuate.

Residents in Hodeidah said they heard four loud booms and saw smoke rising from the port following the Israeli strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement they would hunt down the Houthis' top leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.

"If the Houthis continue to fire missiles at the State of Israel, they will be severely harmed, and we will also hurt the leaders," they said, adding that al-Houthi could join the list of militant figures killed by Israel, such as Hamas' Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah.

The Houthis are part of Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and US interests in the Middle East, alongside Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of missile and drone attacks toward Israel, most of which have been intercepted or landed short.