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Efforts by Muslim, Arab states can end Israeli war crimes: Iran FM

Sunday, 12 November 2023 6:20 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 12 November 2023 6:25 AM ]

This handout picture provided by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on November 11, 2023, shows leaders standing for a group picture ahead of an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Via AFP)

Iran’s foreign minister says endeavors by Muslim and Arab countries can end the ongoing Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a news interview on Saturday night after he, along with Iran’s president Ebrahim Raeisi, attended a Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Israel’s aggression against Gaza in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

“The meeting was held tardily. However, we believe that if the leaders of Muslim countries and the general secretaries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League make necessary efforts, we can witness the cessation of war crimes by the Zionist regime at this juncture,” he said.

In a final communiqué, the summit condemned “the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the war crimes,” as well as the occupying regime’s “barbaric, inhumane and brutal massacres” perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

It also called on the UN Security Council to take “a decisive and binding decision” that ends the Gaza carnage.

The meeting further urged the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to complete the investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by Israel against the Palestinians.

Originally, the 22 members of the Arab League were expected to attend Saturday’s summit. However, the event was later expanded to include the OIC, a wider association of 57 mostly Muslim-majority states.

Addressing the meeting, Raeisi said, “Blind bombardment against Gaza must stop,” adding that Muslim governments should “designate the army of the occupying and aggressor regime as a terrorist organization.”

Raeisi calls for international tribunal to prosecute Israeli leaders for Gaza genocide

The Iranian president was addressing the joint emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Israel waged the bloody war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 11,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured about 27,500 others.

It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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