An emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been convened by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the monarch of Saudi Arabia, to address the escalating violence in Gaza.
According to a statement on the OIC’s website, the meeting will take place on October 18 and 19 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and will bring together representatives of the 57 member states of the OIC.
The meeting aims to coordinate a unified response to the Israeli military offensive against Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, and to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The statement reads: “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.”
With 57 member states across four continents, the OIC is the largest organisation in the world after the UN. It represents the interests and concerns of the Muslim world.
Nigeria joined the OIC in 1986.
On October 7th, Hamas carried out a massive and unprecedented attack on Israel from land, air and sea, resulting in the deaths of 1,300 Israelis.
Israel responded with strikes that killed at least 1,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Among the casualties were 614 children and 370 women.
