Arab League calls on UN to ensure Gaza ceasefire

The Council of the League of Arab States, on Wednesday called on the UN Security Council to take a decision under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, ensuring that Israel complies with the ceasefire and allow entry of humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza.

This came during a meeting by the Council of the League of Arab States at the level of permanent delegates in its extraordinary session held on Wednesday, under the chairmanship of Mauritania and at the request of the State of Palestine.

The Council called for forcing Israel to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people and provide them with protection, in accordance with the mandatory mechanisms provided by Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, to ensure its compliance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, international law and international humanitarian law, and the two orders issued by the International Court of Justice in the genocide case.

The Arab League also condemned the export of weapons and ammunition to Israel, the “occupying power,” which it uses to commit the crime of genocide, kill Palestinian civilians, and destroy their homes, hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, infrastructure, and all their capabilities, considering that their continued export is considered a partnership with it in its aggression against the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, the bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in an Israeli strike were on Wednesday taken out of Gaza to Egypt for repatriation, a security source said, as Israel faced a chorus of outrage over their deaths.

Israeli objections to the return of displaced Gazans to their homes is the key issue holding up negotiations for a ceasefire.

The Israeli military killed seven staff of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) on Monday in an attack that UN chief Antonio Guterres labelled “unconscionable” and “an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted.”

The remains of the six international staff, who were killed alongside one Palestinian colleague, were taken in ambulances to the Rafah crossing to Egypt, where they were handed over to representatives of their respective countries, the security source said on condition of anonymity.

A sea convoy of undelivered food for Gaza returned to Cyprus on Wednesday after the killing of aid workers of World Central Kitchen (WCK) in an Israeli airstrike on Monday evening.

A cargo ship carrying 240 tonnes of food initially destined for the people of the beseiged Palestinian enclave sailed back to Larnaca in Cyprus following the deadly attack, dropping anchor just outside the port.

A second ship, the Open Arms owned by a Spanish NGO working with WCK, arrived earlier.

The United Nations has suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues following the killing of staff working for the World Central Kitchen food charity, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

The Israeli military killed seven staff of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) on Monday.

He said the suspension started on Tuesday. The World Food Programme is continuing operations during the day, including daily efforts to send convoys to the north of Gaza “where people are dying,” Dujarric said.

“As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters.

The UN Human Rights Council on Friday is set to consider a draft resolution calling for a cessation of arms sales to Israel, nearly six months into the war in Gaza.

If the text is adopted, it would mark the first time that the United Nations’ top rights body has taken a position on the bloodiest-ever Gaza war.

Israeli objections to the return of displaced Gazans to their homes is the key issue holding up negotiations for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, mediator Qatar said on Wednesday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Wednesday that at least 32,975 people have been killed in the territory during nearly six months of war.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that his movement at war with Israel was sticking to its conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza, including an Israeli military withdrawal.

Agencies