The foreign ministers of eight Arab and Islamic states on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning what they termed ongoing Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip, singling out the targeting of healthcare facilities, attacks on civilian infrastructure and the continued killing of civilians, including women and children. The signatories — Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia — described the actions as a grave violation of international law and international humanitarian law.

According to the statement, the continued violations represent a clear breach of Israel’s obligations under international law and the comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza. The ministers warned that the attacks undermine international and regional efforts to implement the second phase of that plan, particularly following an announcement by US President Donald Trump that Palestinian factions had accepted a roadmap including provisions on the confinement of weapons. The statement said the violations threaten to derail the political process, reignite a cycle of escalation and deepen the humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip.

The ministers stressed that protecting civilians, safeguarding medical facilities and humanitarian workers, and ensuring the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and relief assistance throughout Gaza constitute legal obligations that must not be compromised under any circumstances. They further asserted that the violations in Gaza cannot be viewed in isolation from settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, illegal settlement expansion and unilateral measures aimed at altering the status quo in occupied Jerusalem. Taken together, the statement said, these practices form a systematic policy designed to impose a fait accompli by force, undermine the foundations of the two-state solution and marginalise the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

The joint statement renewed a call for the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to assume its legal and moral responsibilities by taking practical and effective measures to compel Israel to comply with international law, including Security Council Resolution 2803, and to hold perpetrators of serious violations accountable. The ministers expressed their countries’ categorical rejection of any attempt to annex occupied Palestinian territory, impose Israeli sovereignty over it or forcibly displace Palestinians, and reaffirmed that a just and lasting peace can only be achieved through a serious political process leading to a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.