ISTANBUL

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) announced Sunday that it has assembled a delegation which will enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt as Israel continues its military onslaught on the enclave.

Ali Muhyiddin al-Qaradaghi, the Secretary-General of the Qatar-based IUMS, said in a statement on X that the delegation will enter Gaza through Egypt's Rafah border crossing.

He said IUMS has asked for support from Egypt and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, to facilitate their journey.

Al-Qaradaghi said he conveyed the request to Egypt to travel to Gaza a month ago, expressing his eagerness to be the first to register for the trip, emphasizing not just to Rafah but directly to Gaza.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv claims killed 1,200 people in Israel.

At least 23,968 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 60,582 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.