Moroccan King Will Soon Call for Al-Quds Committee Meeting

Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)
Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)
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Moroccan King Will Soon Call for Al-Quds Committee Meeting

Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)
Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI announced he will soon call for holding the 21st session of the Al-Quds Committee in Rabat, six years after it last convened in Marrakech, without specifying a date.

In a message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he said the meeting aims at considering means of consolidating the preservation of the special status of Jerusalem and contributing to safeguarding the inviolability of its historical landmarks, spiritual symbolism and religious identity.

The King sent the message a day after receiving a US-Israeli delegation headed by White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.

King Mohammed said that the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency will soon be restructured to “breathe new life into it”. This will allow it, under his personal supervision, to continue to implement tangible plans and programs in the health, education, social and housing sectors for the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

King Mohammed expressed his satisfaction with the telephone call he held with Abbas on December 10 during which he underlined Morocco’s firm stance on the Palestinian cause and commitment to defending the rights of the Palestinian people.

He reiterated his country’s stance in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, based on the two-state solution, adding that negotiations were the only way to reach a final, lasting and comprehensive settlement.

In his letter, the King stressed that Morocco has always placed the Palestinian cause at the same level as the Moroccan Sahara issue.

The Al-Quds Committee was first established pursuant to a resolution issued during the sixth Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation that was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in July 1975.

Its presidency was assigned to the late King Hassan II of Morocco in 1979.

In 1998, the committee-affiliated Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency was founded and focused its efforts in the fields of health, education, housing and the preservation of religious heritage.

Members of the committee include Morocco, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Guinea, Niger and Senegal.

Over the past 22 years, the committee has implemented about programs and plans worth around $65 million focused on education, housing, health, culture, sports, women empowerment and the youth.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill 23 in Gaza as Outcry over Aid Blockade Grows

 A UN worker and displaced Palestinians stand amid the rubble of an UNRWA school-turned-shelter, heavily damaged in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
A UN worker and displaced Palestinians stand amid the rubble of an UNRWA school-turned-shelter, heavily damaged in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill 23 in Gaza as Outcry over Aid Blockade Grows

 A UN worker and displaced Palestinians stand amid the rubble of an UNRWA school-turned-shelter, heavily damaged in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
A UN worker and displaced Palestinians stand amid the rubble of an UNRWA school-turned-shelter, heavily damaged in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on May 10, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza, including three children and their parents whose tent was bombed in Gaza City, health officials said.

The bombardment continued as international warnings grow over Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza as Israel's blockade on the territory of over 2 million people is in its third month.

The UN and aid groups have rejected Israel’s aid distribution moves, including a plan from a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Among the 23 bodies brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours were those of the family of five whose tent was struck in Gaza City’s Sabra district, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

Another Israeli strike late Friday hit a warehouse belonging to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in the northern area of Jabaliya. Four people were killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, where bodies were taken.

AP video showed fires burning in the shattered building. The warehouse was empty after being hit and raided multiple times during Israeli ground offensives against Hamas fighters over the past year, said residents including Hamza Mohamed.

Israel's military said nine soldiers were lightly wounded Friday night by an explosive device while searching Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood. It said they were evacuated to a hospital in Israel.

Israel resumed its bombardment in Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Ground troops have seized more than half the territory and have been conducting raids and searching parts of northern Gaza and the southernmost city of Rafah. Large parts of both areas have been flattened by months of Israeli operations.

Under Israel's blockade, charity kitchens are virtually the only source of food left in Gaza, but dozens have shut down in recent days as food supplies run out. Aid groups say more closures are imminent. Israel has said the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.

Israel accuses Hamas and other armed groups of siphoning off aid in Gaza, though it hasn’t presented evidence for its claims. The UN denies significant diversion takes place, saying it monitors distribution.

The 19-month-old war in Gaza is the most devastating ever fought between Israel and Hamas. It has killed more than 52,800 people there, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 119,000, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry's count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants, without giving evidence.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped over 250 others. Hamas still holds about 59 hostages, with around a third believed to still be alive.