Tehran - Saba:
Iran and Qatar on Friday highlighted the need to end the food and medical blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, emphasizing "the importance of urgent action by the international community and Islamic countries to rescue the Palestinians."
This came during a phone call between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, as part of Iranian consultations with Islamic countries on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.
The two sides stressed the need for immediate and effective steps to save the people of Gaza from famine and aggression, calling for an immediate end to the genocide against the Palestinian people.
Araqchi proposed holding an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, emphasizing the importance of collective action by Islamic and Arab countries, and called on the international community to "end Israel's impunity and bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The residents of the Gaza Strip are suffering from unprecedented levels of hunger, with UN organizations warning of widespread famine and rising deaths from malnutrition, especially among children, the sick, and the disabled.
Reports confirm that some families are now subsisting on grass and seawater, amid a near-total absence of humanitarian aid for months.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced that it has thousands of trucks loaded with aid stuck at the crossings since the Israeli occupation authorities prevented their entry last March. UNRWA renewed its call for the immediate lifting of the blockade and the entry of life-saving aid, warning that its staff and Gaza residents are at risk of fainting due to severe hunger.