Cairo, 9 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Several Arab and Islamic countries have called on the United States to play a “broader role” in pressuring Israel into accepting a ceasefire in the Gaza war, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The call was made at a meeting in Washington between Qatari, Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi, Palestinian and Turkish foreign ministers with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

They are members of a ministerial committee formed by an emergency Arab-Islamic summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia last month to discuss the Gaza situation.

During their talks with Blinken, the officials expressed disappointment at the UN Security Council’s failure to pass a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons after the US used its veto power, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement.  

While 13 of the 15 members of the world body voted in favour on Friday, the US, Israel’s key ally, vetoed the draft submitted by the United Arab Emirates. Britain abstained.

Members of the Arab-Islamic committee also renewed their “unified rejection” of the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, an impoverished enclave of around 2.3 million people, and called for an “immediate and complete” ceasefire to protect civilians.