An Israeli airstrike targets an area in the besieged Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned Israel’s ongoing military aggression against the people in Palestine, stressing that the main cause of the latest bloody conflict is the regime’s disregard for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.

A statement published on the OIC’s website late on Saturday said the international body is concerned about the new developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The OIC said the continuation of the Israeli occupation and its failure to adhere to the resolutions of international legitimacy, and the escalation of the pace of its attacks and daily crimes against the Palestinian people, their land and sanctities, and depriving them of their legitimate rights is the main reason for instability.

Israel has launched deadly airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, a besieged Palestinian enclave on the Mediterranean, killing scores of people, including women and children. The bombardment came after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched a multi-pronged operation from Gaza into the occupied territories in what the group described as a response to weeks of violence against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the continued presence of Israeli extremists in the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites located in the occupied city of al-Quds.

OIC’s General Secretariat, which is based in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, said the organization holds Israel responsible for the escalation of violence in the occupied territories. It called on the United Nations Security Council to act to protect the Palestinians against the Israeli aggression and to support measures that could put an end to decades of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands.