M’sia to meet allies to discuss response to Gaza conflict

MALAYSIA and its allies will hold talks on resolving the conflict in Gaza, Palestine, during the Prime Minister’s visit to a summit in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be attending the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting in Riyadh.

“I will discuss with other friends of ours such as the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye on whether there is a need to hold meetings with other world leaders on (the matter). Nevertheless, something must be done immediately,” he said yesterday.

Anwar called Western countries hypocrites for taking a tough stance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine but not doing the same for the Gaza-Israel conflict, which he says has enabled “continuous cruelty”.

“In every meeting, they (Western countries) wanted to know if Malaysia will condemn Hamas,” he said, referring to the political party which governs the Gaza Strip in Palestine and attacked Israel on Oct 7.

In response, Israel has launched a siege of Gaza and repeatedly bombed the Palestinian territory.

Anwar reiterated that Malaysia has long standing ties with Hamas.

“Therefore we don’t agree with their act to pressure Hamas, as they had won the election in Gaza.

“The people of Gaza had chosen them to lead,” he said,

“Our stance is clear regardless of who it is, we do not agree on any actions that hurt the innocent,” he said.

“If there is no firm action, this will turn into a genocide,” he said drawing comparisons to the mass killings perpetrated by the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot in the 1970s.

He added that Putrajaya has proposed to donate RM100mil in aid to Palestine under Budget 2024.

Malaysia has urged Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza to enable food and medical aid to be delivered.

“Humanitarian aid must be expedited,” he said.

Anwar said he has given Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir the mandate to make decisions on humanitarian aid and the collective actions taken together with neighbouring countries.

The Prime Minister also responded to criticism that Malaysia should deploy military forces to help the Gazans.

“It is not easy to deploy military forces, peace brokers and (create a) humanitarian corridor. This must be agreed by neighbouring countries, otherwise our planes cannot land.

“I ask for understanding on the matter and to not confuse the people,” he added.