Middle-East

OIC summit pushes for sanctions against Israel over Gaza 'genocide'

Delegates inside the plenary at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre during the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) 2024 Summit in Banjul on May 5, 2024. (Photo: AFP)

By Mwangi Maina | Monday, May 6, 2024

The OIC also emphasised the need for an immediate, permanent, and unconditional ceasefire.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned what it termed a "genocide" in Gaza during its weekend summit in The Gambia.

In a resolution adopted after the summit, the OIC urged its 57 member countries to impose sanctions on Israel, the occupying power, and to halt the export of weapons and ammunition used in the conflict against Gaza.

The resolution, obtained by The Eastleigh Voice, called for diplomatic, political, and legal pressure to stop the "genocidal war" waged by Israeli forces against the Palestinian people.

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"Calls on the OIC member states to exercise diplomatic, political, and legal pressure and to take any deterrent measures to stop the crimes of the Israeli colonial occupation and the genocidal war it is waging against the Palestinian people, including imposing sanctions at all international economic, sports, and cultural levels," reads an excerpt of the final resolution focusing on Palestine.

The strongly worded resolution further called for "...expelling Israel from international organisations and forums, refraining from supporting its candidacy to international positions, and freezing the assets of persons and entities proven to have been involved in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people."

The OIC also emphasised the need for an immediate, permanent, and unconditional ceasefire.

People stand next to a house damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 3, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled)

"Demands an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of the all-out aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the provision of humanitarian, medical, and relief aid, the provision of water and electricity, and the opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver urgent aid to the Gaza strip in an unimpeded and adequate manner," it read.

The OIC in December 2023 welcomed South Africa's action against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of genocide against Palestinians.

Established in 1969 after the burning of the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, the OIC aims to enhance Muslim solidarity, support the Palestinian struggle, and defend Muslim holy sites.

Its member states include; Africa: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, and Tunisia.

Asia: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel (Palestine), Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, the Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey (Türkiye), Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

Others are Albania in Europe and Guyana and Suriname in South America.