Pakistan has urged the United Nations Security Council — which is set to meet today for discussion on the Middle East situation — to call for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza.

“As a tragedy of epic proportions unfolds in Gaza, the UNSC must act to fulfil its responsibility to uphold peace and call for urgent and unconditional ceasefire, lifting of siege and commencement of rapid unhindered humanitarian assistance,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch said in a weekly press briefing.

Abettors of Israel, she continued, must prevail upon it to “abandon plans for settler colonialism, forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.

“As an occupying power, Israel must fulfil its obligations under the 4th Geneva Convention and end its carnage in Gaza,” Baloch added.