Foreign Ministers of OIC Member States Meet in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 18: Secretary General of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen delivers a speech at the opening of the Council of Foreign Minnisters Meeting Preparotary to The OIC Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference on May 18, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 15 OIC member state foreign ministers are attending the gathering, including Iran, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt. OIC Secretary General Yousef al-Othaimeen said that what Israel did along the Gaza fence was "a war crime and a crime against humanity." "Targeting the defenseless Palestinian people is a stark violation of international law which constitutes a full-blown war crime and a crime against humanity according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," he said. “What Israel did is a kind of aggression that Israel should be held accountable for,” he added. Al-Othaimeen went on to endorse the call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an international investigation into recent events in Gaza, saying: “We support the call of the UN secretary general to open an independent and transparent investigation into the aggression Israeli occupation forces committed by its intentional targeting of disarmed civilians.” He added: “International protection for the Palestinian people became an urgent need… as the UN's Security Council’s failure to issue a statement condemning the Israeli massacre is a shame on our civilized world.” On the U.S. relocation of its embassy to Jerusalem, al-Othaimeen called it “a violation of international law.” “This move has led to the aggravation of the situation, as we warned earlier on various occasions,” he added. (Footage by Cihangir Suicmez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)