Gaza school massacre elicits condemnation from Muslim countries

Amman: An Israeli massacre at a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City brought condemnations Saturday across the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia denounced the massacre by Israeli forces, which killed more than 100 people including women and children, and called for cessation of collective massacres in the Gaza Strip, which is living an "unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe" due to Israeli violations of international law. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a statement condemning "the crime of targeting the school," where thousands of displaced people took shelter, adding it was one in a series of brutal massacres and genocide perpetrated by the occupation army in a gross violation of international law, the International Court of Justice and UN Security Council orders. The organization held the Israeli forces fully responsible for these ongoing crimes, reiterating its call for holding Israel, the occupying power, to account for the crimes committed in Gaza, the West Bank and occupi ed Jerusalem. Qatar also called the massacre at the school-turned-shelter east of Gaza City, "a horrendous and brutal crime against unarmed civilians, and an affront to the international humanitarian law and UN Security Council resolution 2601." The Qatari Foreign Ministry called for sending a UN fact-finding mission to promptly investigate Israel's deliberate targeting of schools and refugee accommodation centers, and providing protection to civilians. Source: Jordan News Agency