<\/p>\n
An Arab-Islamic summit hosted by Saudi Arabia on Saturday called for an end to the conflict in Gaza and rejected justifying Israel\u2019s actions against Palestinians as self-defence.<\/p>\n
The summit condemned \u201cIsraeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, war crimes and barbaric and inhumane massacres by the occupation government\u201d, a final communique said.<\/p>\n
The communique also called for an end to the siege on Gaza, allowing humanitarian aid into the enclave and halting arms exports to Israel.<\/p>\n
Arab leaders and Iran\u2019s president meeting in the Saudi capital on Saturday roundly condemned Israel\u2019s actions in its conflict against Hamas in Gaza, as fears mount the fighting could draw in other countries.<\/p>\n
The emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) comes after the October 7 surprise attacks by Hamas.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s subsequent aerial and ground offensive has killed over 11,000 people, mostly civilians and many of them children, according to the health ministry.<\/p>\n
Host Saudi Arabia \u201cconfirms that it holds the occupation (Israeli) authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people,\u201d Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom\u2019s de facto ruler, said as Saturday\u2019s summit began.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are certain that the only way to guarantee security, peace and stability in the region is to end the occupation, siege and the settlements,\u201d he said of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, on his first trip to Saudi Arabia since the two countries mended ties in March, said Islamic countries should designate the Israeli army a \u201cterrorist organisation\u201d for its conduct in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Israel says it is out to destroy Hamas and blames the Palestinian group for the high death toll, accusing it of using civilians as \u201chuman shields\u201d \u2014 a charge Hamas denies.<\/p>\n
The Arab League and the OIC, a 57-member bloc that includes Iran, were originally meant to meet separately.<\/p>\n
Arab diplomats told AFP<\/em> that the decision to merge the meetings came after Arab League delegations failed to reach an agreement on a final statement.<\/p>\n Some countries, including Algeria and Lebanon, proposed responding to the devastation in Gaza by threatening to disrupt oil supplies to Israel and its allies as well as severing the economic and diplomatic ties that some Arab League nations have with Israel, the diplomats said.<\/p>\n However, at least three countries \u2014 including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which normalised ties<\/a> with Israel in 2020 \u2014 rejected the proposal, according to the diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said a lack of concrete punitive measures against Israel would render the summit toothless.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we do not have real tools for pressure, then any step we take or speech we give will have no meaning,\u201d said Assad, who was welcomed back<\/a> into the Arab fold this year after an extended rift over his country\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n He said no Middle Eastern country should engage in any \u201cpolitical process\u201d with Israel, including developing economic relations, until a lasting ceasefire was reached.<\/p>\n Israel and its main backer the United States have so far rebuffed demands for a ceasefire, a position that drew heavy criticism on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US has prevented the ceasefire in Gaza and is expanding the scope of the war,\u201d Raisi said before departing from Tehran.<\/p>\n Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the summit that \u201cit is a shame that Western countries, which always talk about human rights and freedoms, remain silent in the face of the ongoing massacres in Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said Washington had \u201cthe greatest influence on Israel\u201d and \u201cbears responsibility for the absence of a political solution\u201d to the conflict.<\/p>\n The roster of attendees on Saturday also included Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who called for \u201cdeterrent steps to stop the ongoing war crime\u201d in Gaza, without going into detail.<\/p>\n Raisi is the first Iranian president to visit Saudi Arabia since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended an OIC meeting in the kingdom in 2012.<\/p>\n In addition to addressing the summit, he held a face-to-face meeting with Prince Mohammed, Saudi state media said on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n Iran backs Hamas as well as Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah and Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels, placing it at the centre of concerns the war could expand.<\/p>\n The conflict has already fuelled cross-border exchanges between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, and the Houthis have claimed responsibility for \u201cballistic missiles\u201d the rebels said targeted southern Israel.<\/p>\n Iran president in Riyadh<\/h2>\n