The Organisation of Islamic Corporation (OIC), a top grouping of Islamic nations, has called for an "urgent meeting" in Jeddah on Wednesday following the eight-day continuous Isreal-Palestine war in Gaza that has left over 2,000 people dead. The Organisation seeks to address the "military escalation" and "threat to defenceless civilians in Gaza".
Saudi Arabia, which chairs the current session of the Islamic summit and is the chairman of the OIC’s executive committee, has called for an "open-ended" meeting to discuss the worsening situation that threatens civilians and regional security and stability.
"At the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia... the Organisation's Executive Committee is convening an urgent open-ended extraordinary meeting at the ministerial level, to address the escalating military situation in Gaza and its environs as well as the deteriorating conditions that endanger the lives of civilians and the overall security and stability of the region," the OIC said in a statement on its website.
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The OIC's urgent meeting call comes on a day Saudi Arabia suspended talks on potentially normalising ties with Israel. In an earlier report, AFP had quoted an official, who reportedly said that Saudi Arabia has decided to pause discussion on possible normalisation and has informed US officials.
With nearly 57 members, OIC is the second-largest association after the United Nations. OIC has often called itself "the collective voice of the Muslim world."
