Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday strongly condemned Israel’s escalatory rhetoric and unveiled measures to end Palestinian suffering, warning that Gaza has become both a graveyard for innocent lives and for international law.
In his statement at the 21st Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Jeddah, Dar denounced the Israeli cabinet’s plan to extend full military control over Gaza and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reference to creating a so-called “Greater Israel,” calling it a brazen attempt at annexation and a direct threat to Arab and regional security.
Dar urged the OIC to unite and take concrete steps beyond words.
He said Gaza has endured indiscriminate bombardment, blockade, forced displacement, and starvation, with over 60,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, killed in Israel’s assault.
Hospitals, schools, aid convoys, and refugee camps, he noted, were being deliberately targeted as acts of collective punishment.
Outlining Pakistan’s position, Dar called for seven urgent steps: an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, support for UNRWA, an end to settlements and annexation, reconstruction of Gaza, revival of a political process for a two-state solution, and accountability for Israeli war crimes.
He stressed that “another Nakba cannot, and must not, be allowed to happen,” adding that desecration of Al Aqsa Mosque and incursions into Al Quds Al Sharif were intolerable provocations.
Dar warned that the Palestinian crisis was a litmus test for the credibility of the so-called “rules-based order.”
He urged the UN Security Council to impose costs on Israel, including considering an international protection force for Gaza.
“Palestine remains a priority for Pakistan,” he said, pledging Islamabad’s continued efforts at the UN and OIC to mobilise global support for the Palestinian right to self-determination and peace.
Meetings with Saudi, Iranian Foreign Ministers
Ishaq Dar also held crucial meetings with the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran in Jeddah on the sidelines of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers 21st Extraordinary Session.
In his meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Ishaq Dar “discussed the grave situation in Gaza, strongly condemning Israeli aggression, genocide and famine, and emphasised the urgent need for unhindered humanitarian aid and a lasting ceasefire.”
According to the tweet by Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, both the Iranian and Pakistani delegations reaffirmed “close and brotherly ties” between them.
Ishaq Dar, in his meeting with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal Bin Farhan, discussed the current humanitarian crises in Gaza. Both leaders stressed “permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, reconstruction, and lasting peace” for the people of Palestine.
“We also reviewed our brotherly bilateral ties in diverse areas and exchanged views on key regional & international developments of mutual interest,” Dar wrote in his tweet.
Earlier, upon his arrival in Saudi Arabia, the deputy prime minister was received at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC Ambassador Fawad Sher, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Farooq, and Consul General in Jeddah Khalid Majid.