The General Secretariate of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the African Union Commission (AUC) call for the immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza, and a concerted international effort to provide basic assistance and urgent humanitarian aid to 2.2 million Palestinians.

Both organizations express grave concern over the Israeli order for more than one million Palestinians to leave their homes, contrary to international law. Therefore, they call on the United Nations and the international community to stop a catastrophe unfolding in front of us, before it is too late.

They both stressed the pressing need to avoid escalation, underscoring that an Israeli invasion would undoubtedly entail a huge number of civilian casualties, including women and children, which could lead to a genocide of unprecedented proportions.

Calling on the international community to live up to the shared principles of humanity and justice, both LAS and AUC underscored the imperative of collective action to immediately prevent a protracted aggression against the Palestinians.

In light of the increasingly worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with no access to drinking water, electricity and the near collapse of the medical sector, both the General Secretariat of LAS, and the AU Commission stressed the urgent need to open a humanitarian corridor to provide basic assistance to the population of Gaza and rescue the wounded, while emphasizing that collective punishment should not be accepted.

Both organizations stressed that ultimately, a political solution based on the two-State vision is the only way to guarantee peace and security for all peoples and States in the region.