The organisations have warned that an Israeli ground invasion might result in “unprecedented genocide.”
The UN and the international community have been urged by the African Union and the Arab League to “stop a catastrophe unfolding in front of us, before it is too late” by calling on Israel to immediately end hostilities in Gaza.
Following a meeting with the head of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, “We expressed our categorical rejection of the killing of civilians and underscored the necessity of opening humanitarian corridors to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.”
Both organisations have cited an Israeli order to evacuate all 1.1 million people from northern Gaza as a breach of international law and urged the UN and the larger international community to take decisive action.
“The two organisations stressed the urgent need to avoid escalation, emphasising that an Israeli ground operation would undoubtedly involve a large number of civilian casualties, including women and children, which could lead to an unprecedented genocide,” the African Union and the Arab League stated in a joint statement.
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According to regional health officials, Israel launched a heavy bombing campaign against Gaza that resulted in up to 2,200 Palestinian deaths and over 7,600 injuries. The campaign was launched in reaction to a Hamas strike on Israeli soil on October 7 that claimed the lives of about 1,300 Israelis.
Israel ordered an evacuation of northern Gazans to the south on Thursday in order to “save their lives” before launching a ground operation. The border with Egypt has been blocked since Tuesday as a result of Israeli airstrikes, and the entire region continues to be under Israeli embargo.
Egypt, a member of the Arab League, demanded that Israel abstain from attacking the Palestinian side of the border crossing as it said it was organising humanitarian supply planes for Gaza’s population besieged by the military embargo.
The health sector in Gaza is “on the verge of collapse,” according to the Arab League and the African Union, which classified the situation as “dangerous” on Sunday. They asked that a humanitarian corridor be built to deliver essential aid to the populace, which “lacks drinking water and electricity.”
