Islamic summit accuses Israel of “war crimes:” draft

DAKAR (Reuters) – The world’s largest Muslim body will accuse Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians, according to a draft of the final communique of an Islamic summit in Senegal seen by Reuters on Friday.

“The conference denounces the current and increasing Israeli military campaign against the Palestinian people and the serious violation of human rights and war crimes including the killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians,” the draft said.

It called Israel’s “collective punishment of civilians” a violation of international human rights law and said “the occupying forces must be held responsible for these war crimes”.

The communique is due to be approved at the end of a two-day meeting in Dakar, Senegal, of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the second largest inter-governmental bloc after the United Nations.