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On Monday, the Arab League, ahead of a meeting of foreign minister of various countries, called on global leaders to end Israel’s air campaign on Gaza and protect Palestinians.
It called on the international community for an end to the campaign in a report which will be submitted at the ministerial meeting, as the Israeli air campaign entered its seventh day, with the death toll now at 177; 1,280 others have been wounded by the Israeli air strikes in past week.
According to the report, the Arab League “affirmed the necessity of urgent steps for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and providing protection for the Palestinians” and Israeli “air strikes on Gaza have become a matter that cannot be met with silence any more”. The Arab League also demanded “that the international community intervene through its legal and humanitarian institutions to protect the Palestinian people”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had issued an earlier call in West Bank. So far, there have been no Israeli casualties since the air campaign began, despite 777 rockets striking Israel and 200 rockets being intercepted, the Israeli army said.
The Arab League convened its meeting amid intense international attempts to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel, with Abbas asking for UN intervention. Response from Arab nations has been lackluster when compared to the reaction to the eight-day war in 2012.
On Monday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement that the meeting will begin at 19:00 GMT, and “is aimed at finding a solution to stop the shedding of Palestinian civilians’ blood and to formulate a common Arab stance on the issue”.
Efforts to negotiate a ceasefire have been unsuccessful so far, with Egypt not taking the same hands-on approach it took in 2012, when it had mediated an end to the eight-day war. Since the ousting of Mohammed Morsi in July, ties between Hamas and Egypt have worsened significantly.
