Eight countries ‘strongly denounce’ ongoing Israeli violations in Gaza

What the report says

Eight Arab and Muslim countries — the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning what they described as ongoing Israeli violations in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. The foreign ministers said the strongest criticism was directed at strikes on hospitals, ambulances, medical workers and other civilian areas, calling such actions a grave breach of international humanitarian law.

The statement said health facilities and staff must be protected and that aid and medical supplies should be allowed into Gaza without obstruction. It also said the reported attacks were undermining efforts tied to a broader plan to end the conflict. Hamas welcomed the statement and urged the signatory states, mediators and the United States to pressure Israel to stop what it called violations of the ceasefire arrangement.

Al Jazeera reported the warning amid worsening conditions for Gaza’s health sector, which it said remains close to collapse. The report cited an Israeli air strike on August 1 that hit a medical supplies and pharmaceuticals warehouse at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza. It also said only about half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, and that shortages of key medicines have left some patients at serious risk.

The ministers also linked the Gaza fighting to broader tensions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including settlement expansion and attacks by settlers, saying these developments threaten the two-state solution and violate international law, according to the statement quoted by Al Jazeera.