FM Shahid declares he will advocate for Palestine at OIC meeting

Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has stated that Maldives will be advocating for Palestine and the people of Palestine at the virtual meeting scheduled for the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday afternoon.

While a virtual meeting for foreign ministers of OIC member states is scheduled of Sunday afternoon, discussions have been slated for the escalation of violence against Palestine by the apartheid state of Israel. Special focus is being given to the attacks by Israeli military on worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque, and leaders will also likely discuss the bombing of critical infrastructure in Gaza City, such as the high-rise tower which had housed offices for the Associated Press (AP), Al Jazeera and the BBC. At least 145 people have been killed in Israeli attacks and airstrikes in Gaza, including a number of women and children.

Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid will be representing the Maldives at the meeting of OIC ministers. In a tweet posted on Saturday night, Minister Shahid stated that he would be declaring the Maldives' unshakeable commitment to the Palestinian cause. He condemned Israel's continued violation of Palestinian land and the rights of Palestinian people as an infringement of "international law" and stated that the Maldives would stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land is supplemented by USD 3.8 billion in aid yearly from the United States of America, along with financial support from other countries such as Canada, Australia, France and Belgium. Israel has been systematically stealing Palestinian land by destroying and ethnically cleansing Palestinian communities, violently displacing families and building illegal Israeli-settlements since as early as 1948. This has left the map of what was formerly Palestine near unrecognizable under Israeli military occupation, with pockets of land still afforded to citizens of Palestine along the peninsula diminishing over the years to represent small communities left devastated by armed Israeli forces.

Palestinian youth have been reportedly placing their lives in danger in order to capture the latest images and videos from Palestine, which depict Israeli military having deployed aerial bombs in neighborhoods of Gaza. Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem has become the latest frontline for Israeli brutality against Palestinian citizens, and has come to receive massive international attention over the past few days as worshippers were attacked at the Al Aqsa Mosque, one of the three holiest mosques for Muslims under Islam, during the last few days of Ramazan.

The Gaza Health Ministry on Sunday reported the deadliest single airstrike by Israeli military in Gaza since the new wave of fighting began, flattening three buildings and killing at least 26 people including 10 women and eight children. Israel have been targeting residential areas with amped-up airstrikes in an attempt to neutralize senior Hamas leaders in Gaza over the past two days, as world leaders prepare to mediate a necessary cease-fire in the region.