On October 7, Hamas made a large-scale attack on Israel, which claimed over 1,300 lives. In response, Israel launched a counter bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the unfortunate loss of lives of at least 2,215 people. The situation reached a point where there was the high possibility of an Israeli ground invasion into the Gaza Strip.
In order to conduct a discussion about the Israel and Gaza war, Islamic Nation’s group has called an “urgent extraordinary meeting”. The second largest Organisation after United Nations(UN), The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (IOC), which is a 57-member bloc of Muslim nations, also Known as “The collective voice of the Muslim world”, came to address the escalating military conditions and threat to the lives of the innocent helpless civilians in Gaza.
Following the week-long war between Israel and Hamas, Saudi Arabia, currently presiding over the Islamic Summit, has invited foreign ministers from the IOC to discuss the violence in Gaza. As per the Arab news the meeting will be held in Jeddah on Wednesday.
Amidst this Hamas-Israel crisis, Saudi Arabia, a country that has great geopolitical influence in the Middle East and serves as a home to Islamic holistic sites, came with a significant diplomatic decision. Though it had never recognized Israel and did not take part in the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords. But after Bahrain,United’s Arab Emirates and Moscow established formal ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia had been under pressure from the US to normalise relations with Israel. According to the sources, somehow, Saudi Arabia decided to pause discussions on potential normalisation.
The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of King Salman, Riyadh had put forward certain conditions for normalisation, including security guarantees from the United States and assistance in developing a civilian nuclear program. However, in the wake of the escalating conflict and the suffering of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia has started to express growing concerns.
Saudi Arabia’s recent condemnation of Israel for displacing Palestinians and threatening defenceless civilians is a markable change from their past stance. This shift denotes that the situation in the Middle East is getting more complex, and people around the globe are paying close attention to how Saudi Arabia is responding to this ongoing issue.
