Their warning comes as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated, with some 600 violations of the ceasefire in the last seven weeks.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement on Friday that expressed “deep concern” over a recent Israeli military announcement that the “Rafah Crossing will open in the coming days exclusively for the exit of residents from the Gaza Strip to Egypt”.
Gaza featured prominently at the Doha Forum on Saturday, an annual diplomatic conference in Qatar, with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani saying that the two-month ceasefire was at a “critical moment”.
“We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, (and) there is stability back in Gaza”, he said.
Arab and other Muslim countries, which had expressed interest in providing troops for an ISF, had insisted the US include more defined language about Palestinian self-determination in the plan before a United Nations Security Council vote last month. Israeli attempts to stymie the move failed.
There were also reports of artillery shelling and heavy fire from tanks and aircraft in areas where the Israeli military is currently stationed east of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 70,125 Palestinians and wounded 171,015 since October 2023.
