The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia have called for collective regional and international action to immediately end Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians.
In a phone conversation on Sunday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed the latest developments in Gaza.
Israel has been pounding the besieged territory from the ground, sea and air over the past 23 days.
Amir-Abdollahian and bin Farhan said Gaza was in dire need of constant humanitarian aid and that forced displacement of Palestinians by Israel needs to be countered.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Press Agency reported that the two ministers discussed the escalation in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings. It said the top Iranian and Saudi diplomats underscored the international community’s role in achieving a ceasefire and protecting civilians in Gaza.
Israel has been attacking Gaza in the wake of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on October 7, which was in response to decades-long violence against Palestinians and recurrent incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque.
The death toll since the start of the Israeli carnage on October 7 has surpassed 8,000 with upwards of 20,500 Palestinians wounded. 70 percent of casualties in Gaza have been children, women, and the elderly.
Despite the unconscionable toll, on the 23rd day of the war on Gaza, Israel has declared that the war has “entered a new phase.” On Friday, the Zionist forces intensified air, sea, and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The UN General Assembly has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. 120 states voted for the resolution, but the Israelis rejected the call.
In the first phone call to take place between Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on October 11, the two sides said the crimes of Israel and the United States’ green light for the atrocities invite “destructive insecurity” for the occupying regime and its supporters.
