Arab and Muslim Leaders Demand Immediate End to Gaza War
The joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian territories
An Arab-Islamic summit hosted by Saudi Arabia called for an end to the war in Gaza, rejecting Israel’s justification of its actions against Palestinians as self-defense.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman affirmed the kingdom’s “condemnation and categorical rejection of this barbaric war against our brothers in Palestine.”
In an address to the summit, he said: “We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe that proves the failure of the [UN] Security Council and the international community to put an end to the flagrant Israeli violations of international laws.”
The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian territories, according to a communiqué.
The summit condemned “Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, war crimes and barbaric and inhumane massacres by the occupation government,” a final communiqué said.
Saudi Arabia has sought to press the United States and Israel for an end to hostilities in Gaza, and the crown prince, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, gathered Arab and Muslim leaders to reinforce that message.
The summit also called for an end to the siege on Gaza, allowing humanitarian aid into the enclave and halting arms exports to Israel, following the meeting in Riyadh.
Dozens of leaders attended, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was welcomed back into the Arab League this year.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians were facing a “genocidal war” and urged the United States to end Israeli “aggression.”
Raisi hailed the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas for fighting against Israel and urged Islamic countries to impose oil and goods sanctions on Israel.
“There is no other way but to resist Israel. We kiss the hands of Hamas for its resistance against Israel,” Raisi said in his address.
The Middle East has been on edge since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, where 1,200 people died as a result, according to Israeli officials.
Since then, Israel has retaliated with a full military assault on Gaza, where 11,078 people had been killed as of Friday, 40% of them children, according to officials from the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
