Heads of state take a family photo during the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 11, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
“>
Heads of state take a family photo during the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 11, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries called on Saturday for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza, rejecting Israel’s justification of its actions against the Palestinians as self-defense.
The extraordinary joint Muslim-Arab summit in Riyadh urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “the war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian territories, according to a final statement.
Saudi Arabia has sought to pressure the United States and Israel to end hostilities in Gaza, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has brought together Arab and Muslim leaders to strengthen this message.
Dozens of leaders, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was welcomed back to the Arab League this year , participated.
Prince Mohammed affirmed the kingdom’s “condemnation and categorical rejection of this barbaric war against our brothers in Palestine.”
“We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe that demonstrates the failure of the Security Council and the international community to end Israel’s flagrant violations of international law,” he said in a summit speech.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians were facing a “genocidal war” and urged the United States to end Israeli “aggression.”
Raisi praised the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas for its fight against Israel and urged Islamic countries to impose oil and goods sanctions on Israel.
“There is no other way than to resist Israel. We kiss the hands of Hamas for its resistance against Israel,” Raisi said in his speech.
The Middle East has been under tension since Hamas fighters invaded Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people.
Since then, Israel has intensified its attacks on Gaza, where 11,078 people were killed on Friday, 40% of them children, according to Palestinian officials.
DIFFERENT APPROACHES
Fighting intensified overnight Saturday near overcrowded hospitals in Gaza City, Palestinian officials said.
A baby died in an incubator at Gaza’s largest hospital after a power outage, and a patient in intensive care was killed by an Israeli shell, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The war has upended traditional alliances in the Middle East, as Riyadh has engaged more closely with Iran, rebuffed U.S. pressure to condemn Hamas and suspended plans to normalize relations with Israel.
Raisi’s trip to Saudi Arabia is the first by an Iranian head of state in more than a decade. Tehran and Riyadh formally ended years of hostility under a China-brokered deal in March.
Erdogan called for an international peace conference to find a permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
“What we need in Gaza is not pauses of a few hours, but rather a permanent ceasefire,” Erdogan said at the summit.
Qatar’s emir said his country, where several Hamas leaders are based, was seeking to mediate the release of the Israeli hostages and hoped a humanitarian truce would be reached quickly.
“How long will the international community treat Israel as if it is above international law?” He asked.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters that there could be no discussions about the future of Gaza except “discussions about an immediate ceasefire.”
The summit also demanded an end to the siege of Gaza, access for humanitarian aid and a halt to arms sales to Israel.
The kingdom was due to host two extraordinary summits, that of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and that of the Arab League, on Saturday and Sunday, but opted for a joint summit due to the “extraordinary” situation in Gaza, the ministry said Saudi Foreign Affairs.
Hamas urged the summit to make “a historic and decisive decision and act to immediately end Zionist aggression.”
Some Arab countries, led by Algeria, have called for a complete break in diplomatic relations with Israel, two delegates told Reuters.
Other Arab countries that established diplomatic ties with Israel backed away, emphasizing the need to keep contacts open with Netanyahu’s government, they said.
