Arab and Muslim nations join a global firestorm of outrage, slamming Israel’s deadly plan to tighten its grip on Gaza by occupying Gaza City, denouncing it as a ruthless continuation of a “war of extermination.”
Saudi Arabia on Friday was among the first Islamic countries to strongly condemned the Israeli Security Cabinet’s decision to occupy Gaza City, calling it a “war crime” and “an act of ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinian people.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said it “denounces in the strongest and most severe terms any Israeli move to control Gaza.”
The ministry warned that the plan represents “a clear violation of international humanitarian law” and “a blatant disregard for the Palestinian people’s historical and legal rights to their land.”
It also criticised Israel’s “inhumane practices,” including the use of “starvation as a weapon and the continued siege of the enclave,” adding that these actions reflect an “extremist policy aimed at displacing Palestinians by force.”
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan also blasted the development as an extension of Israeli extremism.
“The kingdom rejects and denounces the plan as an extension of Israel’s extremist policies that use starvation and siege as weapons against the Palestinian people,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sufian Al-Qudah in a statement.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
“Israel’s occupation of Gaza undermines international efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire and ending the humanitarian suffering in the enclave,” he added.
He stressed Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law and called for “an immediate halt to its aggression” as well as “the opening of crossings to deliver sufficient and urgent aid to Gaza.”
Turkiye also joined the growing outrage at Israel’s deadly plan with a strongly worded statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
“Every move by the fundamentalist Netanyahu government aimed at perpetuating genocide against the Palestinian people and extending the occupation deals a severe blow to international peace and security, exacerbates regional instability and further deepens the humanitarian crisis,” the statement said.
The ministry stressed that “lasting peace” in the region can only be achieved through respect for “international law,” prioritisation of “diplomacy,” and “protection of fundamental human rights.”
More anti-Israel statements have also been reported from Egypt and Yemen.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Cairo rejected “Israel’s decision to occupy the entire Gaza Strip” and called it a “continuation of a war of extermination.”
Early on Friday morning, after a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet that lasted several hours in Jerusalem Al Quds, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement approving a plan to take control of Gaza City.
The security cabinet adopted the plans by majority vote and included “five principles for ending the war”, the statement says.
“The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” it says, detailing the following “principles for ending the war”:
- Disarmament of Hamas
- Return of all hostages – both living and dead
- Demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip
- Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip
- The existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority
“An absolute majority of cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented to the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas or the return of the abductees,” the statement concludes.
Following this announcement, Israel has come under intense pressure from world powers including key Western allies.
The UK, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Russia the European Union and the United Nations are among the global voices expressing staunch opposition to Israel’s plan.
Any attempt by Israel to further occupy Gaza is guaranteed to lead to a spike in deaths, especially as the millions of Palestinian civilians living in Gaza have nowhere to flee to escape the fighting.
The U.S. has yet to respond to the latest announcement but when asked about the possibility of a new Israeli military offensive, U.S. President Trump said on Tuesday it was “pretty much up to Israel” whether to fully occupy Gaza or not.
At least 61,258 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, including 197 who have died from hunger, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, Anadolu reports.
A ministry statement said 100 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 603 people were injured, taking the number of injuries to 152,045 in the Israeli onslaught since October 2023.
The ministry also said that four more people died from starvation and malnutrition over the past day, pushing the death toll since October 2023 to 197, including 96 children.
