Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will visit New York on February 18 to participate in a high-level United Nations Security Council (UNSC) briefing on the situation in Palestine, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the FO said that the meeting will be chaired by the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary as president of the UNSC.

The statement said that during the briefing, Dar will reaffirm Pakistan’s “principled and consistent position on Palestine”.

“He will reiterate Pakistan’s strong opposition of Israel’s recent illegal decisions to expand its control over the West Bank, emphasise the need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, full implementation of Security Council resolution 2803, scaled-up humanitarian assistance, and the early commencement of Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction,” the statement said.

“The deputy prime minister will also underscore Pakistan’s continued engagement with international and regional partners, including the group of eight Arab and Islamic countries and the United States, in support of a just and lasting peace, anchored in international law, leading to the realisation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent, sovereign and contiguous Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” the statement added.

Separately, on the margins of the visit, Dar will hold bilateral meetings with counterparts to discuss matters of mutual interest, it concluded.

The development comes as the foreign ministers of eight Muslim nations, including Pakistan, condemned the Israeli move to claim land in the occupied West Bank as “state property”.

It should be mentioned that the same eight countries had worked with US President Donald Trump’s administration on a plan last year to end Israel’s genocide and invasion in Gaza.

On Monday, Pakistan had released a separate statement condemning the Israeli move, calling on the international community to reject its actions.