OIC seeks legal action against Israel

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called for the formation of an international investigation committee to probe Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza-bound aid ships.

“I have invited our OIC Ambassadorial Groups in both New York and Geneva to act in concert in favor of the adoption of an international stand condemning this odious crime and of lifting the lawless blockade on the Gaza Strip,” OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said on Saturday in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The OIC called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in the wake of a deadly Israeli assault last Monday that killed nine people onboard the flagship of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, MV Mavi Marmara.

“The Israeli aggression against the Freedom Flotilla represents a policy of piracy, criminality and state organized terrorism, but this time, it exceeded all the red lines,” he added, calling for a transparent inquiry.

The secretary general also urged continued extension of all kinds of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in all fields, “in view of the size of the humanitarian tragedy endured by the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran would offer “a set of tangible and practical proposals to stop Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip and resolve the crisis in the sliver.”

The densely-populated Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007.

The Freedom Flotilla was seeking to pierce the Israeli-imposed blockade of the impoverished coastal strip and pass much needed aid to Palestinians still recovering form last year’s three-week Israeli attack.

Defying international condemnation of the attack, Israel stormed another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, in international waters on Saturday.

Israel has release seven of the activist onboard the ship while the rest remain in detention.