Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar arrived in Turkey’s historic coastal city of Istanbul on Monday and participated in the Coordination Meeting of Arab-Islamic Foreign Ministers, hosted by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
The meeting focused on the latest developments regarding the Gaza ceasefire following Israel’s aggression that began on October 7, 2023, and was formed under the initiative of Donald Trump.
After the meeting, a joint declaration called for Israel’s full compliance with an immediate ceasefire, removal of obstacles to humanitarian aid in Gaza, recognition of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and national representation, and the implementation of a 20-point agreement allowing at least 600 aid trucks and 50 fuel carriers into Gaza on a daily basis.
According to the declaration, the establishment of an international stabilization force is under consideration, while Gaza’s political administration should remain in Palestinian hands rather than any external power. The concerned Arab and Islamic countries believe that, despite the ceasefire, Israeli military attacks on Gaza are alarming, resulting in the martyrdom of another 250 Palestinians. It is noteworthy that any international stabilization force to be deployed will require approval from the UN Security Council. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar further stated that Pakistan’s parliament will also be consulted for its approval.
In the high-level meeting, Pakistan’s focus remained on strengthening diplomatic unity within the Muslim world and playing a key role in increasing international pressure against Israel — especially at a time when, despite the announced ceasefire, the killing of Palestinians in Gaza continues. Pakistan’s active participation has raised hopes that, on humanitarian grounds, the oppressed people of Gaza may finally have the chance to live peacefully in their homeland, which has been reduced to ruins by Israel’s prolonged two-year land and air assaults.
On the other hand, the aggressive policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government continue to undermine regional peace. In October 2025, he ordered “powerful strikes” on Gaza and the West Bank as part of his expansionist plan rooted in the sinister vision of “Greater Israel.” This ongoing series of violations of international law has resulted in rivers of blood, as thousands of displaced Palestinians face intensified persecution.
Most distressingly, thousands of women and children are among the dead and injured. International laws — particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions (1977), and the Rome Statute (1998) — strictly prohibit the deliberate targeting, killing, torture, or harming of civilians, including women and children, during armed conflict. Violations of these laws constitute war crimes.
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached an extremely critical stage, with the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, as well as the destruction of essential infrastructure such as water facilities and hospitals. Severe food shortages have left hundreds of thousands of women and children suffering, and without the delivery of humanitarian aid, claims of a ceasefire hold no meaning — a point made clear during the high-level Coordination Meeting of Foreign Ministers.
Historically, Pakistan’s stance on the Palestine issue has remained principled — that a two-state solution is the only viable path, under which a Palestinian state should be established along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. However, in the current scenario, Israel’s ongoing aggression for the past two years has clouded the prospects for peace. The biggest question remains: despite the ceasefire, why do attacks on Gaza continue, and why has a superpower like the United States failed to stop them?
The answer lies in the deep influence of the Israeli lobby over the U.S. Congress, established in 1951 as the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs and now known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which supports anti-Palestinian policies. However, in recent months, opposition to AIPAC has grown among Democrats, with several members returning its funding this year.
Meanwhile, the U.S. foreign policy, continuing for decades, has consistently aligned with Israel. Yet the most notable development is President Trump’s apparent interest in the Gaza ceasefire and his practical steps toward its implementation — signaling that sooner or later, the ceasefire and the hope for peace in Gaza have begun to emerge as a ray of light. Consequently, the bloodshed has momentarily ceased at least for now, and this pause in Israeli attacks could prove to be a meaningful step toward restoring peace in the war-torn Gaza area, particularly in the backdrop of international stabilizing force possible deployment where this force could not only be a watch dog but can defend Palestinians as per their mandate.
