RIYADH: The Kingdom’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan chaired Saudi Arabia’s delegation at Monday’s Cairo Ministerial Conference to Enhance the Humanitarian Response in Gaza.

Prince Faisal said during his speech that the humanitarian crisis in Palestine had “reached an unbearable limit, and in no way can the deterioration of the situation in the region be allowed any more.”

At least 44,000 Palestinians have lost their lives during Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, and more than 100,000 have been injured.

Prince Faisal said that Israeli actions against children, women and the elderly; the destruction of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip; the forced displacement of 2 million Palestinians and the confiscation of their lands would “perpetuate suffering, fuel extremism in the region … and undermine the chances of coexistence and sustainable peace.”

He said that Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and government policies to affect the legal and historic status of Jerusalem “represent direct attacks on international law and threaten the two-state solution.”

Prince Faisal stressed the importance of an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

He also warned that the Israeli-approved law to prohibit the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees from working inside Israel “would have catastrophic consequences for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

Saudi Arabia has provided more than 6,600 tonnes of food, shelter equipment and medical supplies, including ambulances, to Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023.

Prince Faisal said that the “brutal genocide in Gaza is the biggest test of the international order,” and called for the recognition of the Palestinian state and the respect of all UN resolutions.

Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of the Saudi aid agency KSrelief, also attended the conference.