Members of the Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit held talks in New York on Wednesday with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Meeting at the UN headquarters, they discussed developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings and what the humanitarian truce achieved in the release of some prisoners and their return to their families.
They tackled efforts exerted towards an immediate ceasefire, and the importance of the international community fulfilling its responsibility towards the commitment in protecting civilians and ensuring the application of the rules of international law and international humanitarian law.
The meeting focused on the importance of implementing UN resolution on the protection and security of the Palestinian people from violations committed by the Israeli forces, and returning to the path of peace by implementing international resolutions related to the two-state solution and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The members of the Ministerial Committee reiterated their demand for the importance of the international community taking all effective measures to ensure securing relief corridors for the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, stressing their categorical rejection of all forms of blatant settlement and forced displacement of the Palestinian people.
The committee members included its chairman Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Qatari Prime Minister and FM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and FM Ayman al-Safadi, Palestinian FM Riad Malki, Turkish FM Hakan Fidan, Indonesian FM Retno Marsudi, Malaysian FM Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir, UAE Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen Almarar, and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The committee later met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to also discuss Gaza.
The officials were in New York for a UN Security Council meeting focusing on Gaza.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Prince Faisal said the aid entering Gaza was "far less than is needed."
"The danger is that if ... this truce expires we will return to the killing at the scale that we have seen, which is unbearable," he said. "So we are here to make a clear statement that a truce is not enough. What is needed is a ceasefire."
Guterres warned that the Gaza Strip was in the midst of an "epic humanitarian catastrophe," as calls grew for a ceasefire to replace the temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.
"Intense negotiations are taking place to prolong the truce – which we strongly welcome - but we believe we need a true humanitarian ceasefire," he told the Security Council.
