Saudi Crown Prince condemns Israel's 'violations' in Gaza

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman condemned on Friday the Israeli forces' violations in the Gaza Strip on the eve of two Arab and Islamic summits that will focus on the ongoing war for more than a month.

The de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia stated during his address at the Saudi-African summit in Riyadh, "We condemn the military attacks and targeting of civilians in the Gaza Strip and the continued violations of the Israeli occupation authority of international humanitarian law."

He added, "We emphasize the necessity to stop this war, forced displacement, and create conditions for stability and achieving peace."

The war in Gaza began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack inside Israeli territory, resulting in the deaths of 1,400 people in Israel, most of them civilians, and the taking of approximately 240 hostages, according to authorities.

Since then, Israel has been carrying out relentless strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, with a population of 2.4 million, resulting in the deaths of at least 11,000 people, including over 10,800 civilians and more than 4,500 children, according to the health ministry affiliated with Hamas.

The war has hindered efforts to reach a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Prince Mohammed said in September that the rapprochement between the Kingdom and Israel is "getting closer" every day.

Riyadh has repeatedly criticized Israeli attacks on civilians in official statements, but Friday's remarks were the first public ones from Prince Mohammed.

His statements came at the Saudi-African summit one day before the Gulf kingdom hosts two emergency meetings on the Gaza war - for the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The African Union Commission Chair, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also condemned on Friday the "blatant violence" suffered by the Palestinians. 

He said, "We call for a real and practical leap to immediately stop the destruction of Gaza and the killing of thousands of its people to give strong momentum to the political solution by adopting the two-state solution."

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince informed the summit that the Kingdom will invest $25 billion in Africa from now until 2030, nearly double the amount invested in the past decade, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

AFP