Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Ministers of eight Muslim countries- Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and the United Arab Emirates, on Friday called upon the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities and to pressure Israel, as the occupying power, to immediately lift constraints on the entry and distribution of essential supplies including tents, shelter materials, medical assistance, clean water, fuel, and sanitation support.In a joint statement, they called for the immediate, full, and unhindered humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip without any interference by either party, through the UN and its agencies, the rehabilitation of infrastructure and hospitals, and the opening of the Rafah Crossing in both directions as stipulated in President Trump’s plan.In this context, they stressed the urgent need to immediately initiate and scale up early recovery efforts, including the provision of durable and dignified shelter to protect the population from the severe winter conditions.The foreign ministers of the Islamic, Arab states expressed their deepest concern regarding the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been exacerbated by severe, harsh, and unstable weather conditions, including heavy rainfall and storms, and compounded by the continued lack of sufficient humanitarian access, acute shortages of essential life-saving supplies, and the slow pace of the entry of essential materials required for the rehabilitation of basic services and the establishment of temporary housing.The ministers highlighted that the severe weather has laid bare the fragility of existing humanitarian conditions, particularly for almost 1.9 million people and displaced families living in inadequate shelters. Flooded camps, damaged tents, the collapse of damaged buildings, and exposure to cold temperatures coupled with malnutrition, have significantly heightened risks to civilian lives, including due to disease outbreaks, especially among children, women, the elderly, and individuals with medical vulnerabilities.
