The Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit over the Israel-Gaza conflict was held by Saudi Arabia on Saturday, with participants condemning Israel’s “war crimes” in the Gaza Strip and rejecting Israeli claims that its actions against Palestinians in the coastal enclave were self-defence.
The summit was attended by many Arabic leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The final communique calls for an end to military action and the blockade of the Gaza Strip in order to allow access for humanitarian aid. In addition, one of the most important items in the statement urged an end to arms exports to Israel and called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli violations in Gaza.
The meeting also pledged to support Egyptian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza and condemned attempts to transfer Palestinians from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip or beyond.
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud held an opening speech in which he demanded the release of hostages and detainees, the protection of innocent people, coordinated efforts and actions to resolve the dysfunctional situation in Gaza.
He also stressed “demands for an immediate halt to military operations, for the provision of humanitarian corridors to aid civilians, and for enabling international humanitarian organizations to perform their roles.”
On the Iranian side, Raisi is the first Iranian head of state to visit Saudi Arabia in more than a decade, a move that comes as Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark agreement in March to normalise relations. Besides, he held separate meetings with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Sudan to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip as well as bilateral relations.
The Presidents of Egypt and Turkey demanded an end to all actions aimed at displacing Palestinians from their land and, consequently, the convening of an international peace conference to find a lasting solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have so far killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, including more than 4,500 children (every ten minutes a child is killed in Gaza) and 3,000 women, and injured more than 27,000 people, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila told in a press conference on Saturday.
On Saturday, Hamas called on Arab and Islamic leaders to pressure Israel to end its “war” against the besieged coastal enclave.
