8 countries condemn Israeli ministers' Gaza displacement remarks

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Indonesia and Pakistan on Sunday strongly condemned remarks by two Israeli ministers concerning the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement, the ministers condemned recent remarks by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Defense Minister Israel Katz, including proposals for plans and mechanisms aimed at "forcibly removing Palestinians from their land." "Such inflammatory statements and proposals flagrantly violate principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, and pose a direct threat to the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people," they said.

The ministers reaffirmed their rejection of any attempts or plans to displace Palestinians, whether within or outside the occupied Palestinian territory, and warned against turning calls for forced displacement into declared policy or concrete measures aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their land.

The ministers stressed that the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory and underscored the need to preserve the unity of the Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

They reaffirmed that "the only path toward achieving a just and lasting peace lies in the implementation of the two-state solution with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital." The ministers also called on the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to shoulder its responsibilities, firmly confront attempts to impose a new demographic or geographic reality in the occupied Palestinian territory and ensure respect for international law.