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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad this week called on the international community to support the Arab League's and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) plan to reconstruct Gaza, saying it is essential to lay the foundations of lasting peace in the Middle East. 

In March, the Arab League ratified its plan to reconstruct Gaza, proposing to rebuild the Palestinian territory without displacing its 2.4 million residents at a cost of $53 billion. Days later the OIC endorsed the plan, which was a counterproposal to a controversial one by US President Donald Trump in which he suggested to take over Gaza and displace its residents. 

At a UN Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Ahmad urged the Security Council to "act with urgency and clarity" to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

"We call for international support to the Arab League–OIC Plan for Recovery and Reconstruction in Gaza," Ahmad said. "This plan is essential not only for rebuilding Gaza but also for restoring hope and laying the foundation for lasting peace."

The Pakistani envoy said Israel must immediately cease its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, adding that a permanent ceasefire must be established without further delay. 

"Second, the blockade on humanitarian aid must be lifted fully and unconditionally," Ahmad said. "The UN and humanitarian organizations must be granted safe and unimpeded access."

Ahmad demanded a "credible and irreversible political process" for the two-state solution in the Middle East, reiterating Pakistan's demand for a separate and independent Palestinian state based on the pre-June 1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. 

"We support the earliest resumption of the high-level international conference to advance this goal," he said. 

Israel's military has renewed its focus on Gaza after its 12-day conflict with Iran. The Jewish state's retaliatory military campaign against Hamas has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza since October 2023. Most of the dead are civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.

Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has condemned its war on Gaza since it began in 2023 and has called on the international community to intervene to stop Palestinian civilians from getting killed.