Arab Leaders issue statement on aggression in Gaza at Bahrain Summit

Arab leaders issued a statement at the Bahrain Summit, the thirty-third regular session of the Council of the League of Arab States, held at the Sakhir Palace in the Kingdom of Bahrain under the presidency of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, addressing the aggression on Gaza.

The text of the statement is as follows:

We, the Arab leaders,

Condemn in the strongest terms the continued brutal Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, the crimes committed against Palestinian civilians and Israel's unprecedented violations of international law and international humanitarian law, including targeting civilians and civilian installations, the use of blockade as a weapon, starvation and attempts at forced displacement, and the resulting death and injury of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.

We also condemn the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian city of Rafah, which has become a refuge for more than one million displaced persons, and its catastrophic humanitarian consequences. We condemn the Israeli occupying forces' control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which is aimed at tightening the blockade on civilians.

We call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a halt to all attempts at forced displacement, an end to all forms of blockade, permission for the full and sustained entry of humanitarian assistance for the Gaza Strip, and Israel's immediate withdrawal from Rafah.

We also condemn in the strongest terms the targeting by the Israeli occupying forces of humanitarian and United Nations organizations in the Gaza Strip, the obstruction of their work, the attacks on Gaza Strip aid convoys, including attacks by Israeli extremists on Jordanian aid convoys, and the failure of the Israeli authorities to fulfil their legal obligations to provide protection to these convoys. We call for an immediate international investigation into these attacks.

We affirm our full and continued support for the Palestinian people in the face of this aggression. We call upon the international community and influential international forces to overcome political calculations and double standards in dealing with international crises, and to fulfil its moral and legal responsibilities in the face of Israel's aggressive practices, and to clearly characterize them as a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.

We also call for the operationalization of the role of the relevant international mechanisms for conducting independent and impartial investigations to hold accountable those responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people since the start of Israel's aggression against the Gaza Strip.