https://arab.news/pyv5x
- After 12 months of Gaza war, Israel has shifted its focus to Lebanon where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas
- An all parties conference in Pakistan on Monday called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to convene a summit on the situation in Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal cabinet has approved the establishment of a special relief fund for Palestine and Lebanon, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Tuesday, a day after the South Asian country held an all-parties conference on Israel’s war on Gaza which has widened to Lebanon and other regional countries.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
After 12 months of war against the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, Israel has shifted its focus to Lebanon where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas. The Israeli military has also conducted strikes in Yemen and Syria.
In the aftermath of the destruction in Palestine and Lebanon, the Pakistani cabinet approved the establishment of the PM’s Relief Fund for Palestine and Lebanon and instructed the Pakistani central bank to open an account, according to PM Sharif’s office.
“Federal Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal will supervise the relief operations regarding Palestine and Lebanon,” the PM’s office said in a statement.
The development came a day after an all parties conference (APC) in Pakistan called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene an emergency summit to address the situation in Palestine.
“Pakistan has decided to form a special working group which will go to different lobbies and reach out to other countries in the Islamic world to raise a collective voice against Israeli atrocities,” PM Sharif said at the APC.
“The first priority should be to stop the bloodshed in Palestine, which is a foremost duty and for this, the platform of the OIC is available.”
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and other multilateral platforms and demanded international powers and bodies stop Israeli military actions in Gaza. The South Asian country has also dispatched several aid consignments for the Palestinians.