• Condemn attacks on hospitals, tents sheltering displaced Palestinians
• Joint statement says Israeli restrictions are worsening enclave’s humanitarian crisis
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and 16 other countries on Saturday condemned an Israeli air strike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, calling on Tel Aviv to protect civilians and medical facilities and ensure the sustained and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The deadliest single strike since Israel’s elections last month hit the hospital’s surgery ward in Khan Yunis early on Thursday, killing at least six Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, and wounding nearly 30 others.
According to a joint statement issued by the Foreign Office, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates condemned the Israeli strike in the “strongest terms”.
The statement said the strike “caused casualties among patients and medical personnel, in violation of international humanitarian law, which affords special protection to medical facilities and healthcare workers”.
It also condemned continued Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians, including strikes on tents and other sites sheltering displaced people.
“These attacks undermine the ceasefire and efforts to restore security and stability in Gaza and are inconsistent with US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Plan,” the joint statement said.
Humanitarian aid
It expressed grave concern that “continued Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid, shelter materials including tents, caravans and mobile homes, as well as medical supplies were deepening Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe as winter approaches”.
“Inadequate shelter and deteriorating water, sanitation and healthcare services put civilian lives at grave risk, particularly those of children and infants, who could once again die from exposure to freezing temperatures,” it said.
The statement called on Israel to heed appeals from the international community and Trump’s Board of Peace for increased humanitarian assistance and to fulfil immediately and in full its obligations under the Sharm El-Sheikh Agreement.
“Israel must uphold the ceasefire, protect civilians and medical facilities, and ensure the safe, sustained and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid in sufficient quantities.
“It must also allow United Nations agencies and humanitarian organisations to carry out their mandates without obstruction.”
The ministers said the first-phase commitments were supposed to take effect upon the signing of the Sharm El-Sheikh Agreement.
“Israel must implement them without further delay or additional conditions, including political and security conditions, that impede humanitarian access,” the statement said.
“Urgent humanitarian assistance must proceed independently of progress on subsequent phases.”
The foreign ministers called on the US and the Board of Peace to “intensify their efforts to ensure Israel’s full implementation of these commitments and the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid”.
Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2026
