Salman bin Abdulaziz, the ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has summoned an emergency gathering of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The OIC, with 57 member states including Nigeria, spanning four continents, stands as the second-largest international organization after the United Nations and is the unified voice of the global Muslim community.
The meeting is scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on October 18 and 19, as per an official statement released by the OIC.
This emergency meeting has been convened to address the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, involving clashes between Hamas and Israel.
According to the statement, “At the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which chairs the current session of the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Organization’s Executive Committee is convening an urgent open-ended extraordinary meeting at the ministerial level, to address the escalating military situation in Gaza and its environs as well as the deteriorating conditions that endanger the lives of civilians and the overall security and stability of the region.”
“The extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the OIC will take place on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at the General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah Governorate.”
On October 7, Hamas launched an unprecedented and coordinated land, air, and sea incursion into Israel, resulting in the reported death of 1,300 Israelis.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israeli retaliatory strikes have caused the deaths of at least 1,900 Palestinians, including 614 children and 370 women.
| DailyTrust
