OIC urges member states to sanction Israel, halt arms export

The OIC made the call in a resolution adopted at the end of the 15th summit of the organization in the Gambian capital Banjul.

The resolution called on all member states to impose “sanctions on Israel [as] the occupying power, and [start by] halting the export of weapons and ammunition used by its army to perpetrate the crime of genocide in Gaza.”

The resolution urged members “to exercise diplomatic, political and legal pressure and to take any deterrent measures to stop the crimes of the Israeli colonial occupation, and the genocidal war it is waging against the Palestinian people, including by imposing sanctions”.

The organization also called for “an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire” in the war-wracked Palestinian territory.

Addressing the summit on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with Israel to mount pressure on the regime to end its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargos [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds,” he continued.

Stressing that Israel is not a legitimate government, Iran’s top diplomat described the regime as “an occupying apartheid power”, adding that “passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The Israeli genocide in Gaza has killed 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,018 others since it started early last October.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and releasing those who have been taken captive during Operation al-Aqsa Storm.