OIC calls for international force to protect Palestinians

ISTANBUL: The Muslim leaders, who gathered here for a special summit on recent Gaza killings, have called for an international force to be deployed to protect Palestinian people against Israeli crimes.

In a final communiqué issued following an emergency meeting here on Friday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the May 14 massacre of dozens of Gazans as “savage crimes committed by the Israeli forces with the backing of the US administration.”

It also urged the UN to “form an international investigation committee into the recent atrocities in the Gaza Strip, and enable the committee to initiate field investigation.”

The OIC further demanded “international protection of Palestinian population including through dispatching of international protection force” in the face of “unchecked crimes” committed by Israel.

Israeli occupation forces killed at least 62 Palestinians during protests near the Gaza fence on the eve of 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

More than 2,700 Palestinians were also wounded as the Israeli forces used snipers, airstrikes, tank fire and tear gas to target the demonstrators.

In an address to the OIC summit, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah underlined the necessity to provide international protection for his countrymen.

“We stress the need for immediate action to help provide international protection for the Palestinian people who have been suffering for a century from a barbaric and oppressive aggression at the hands of Israeli occupation authorities,” he said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for sending “an international peace force to the people of Palestine, who are losing their young children to Israeli terror every day.”

Kuwait circulated among the UN Security Council member states a draft resolution calling for the dispatch of an “international protection mission” to shield Palestinian civilians.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) also convened on Friday, demanding an “independent, international commission of inquiry” into the Gaza killings and denouncing “the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force” by Israeli forces against Palestinians.

The OIC General Secretariat was requested to act immediately to establish an international independent Committee of Experts to investigate the crimes and massacre committed by the Israeli forces against the peaceful and unarmed demonstrators in the Gaza Strip.

It also called for determining the culpability of Israeli officials and communicating the findings to relevant international bodies.