Hamas leader’s killing risks ‘wider conflict,’ Islamic bloc chair warns

By AFP 7 August 2024, 8:12 pm

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(R to L) Deputy Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia Waleed Al-Khuraiji and Azerbaijan Yalchin Rafiyev, Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour and Jordanian Foreign Minster Ayman Safadi, attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Jeddah on August 7, 2024 (Amer HILABI / AFP)

The “heinous” killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh risks tipping the Middle East into “wider conflict,” the chair of a Saudi-based Islamic bloc tells a summit.

The comments from Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara came as a senior Iranian official said during the same meeting that the Islamic Republic would need to defend itself from Israel, which it blames for Haniyeh’s death last week in Tehran.

Iranian and Palestinian officials called for today’s gathering of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, saying the body needed to respond to the killing of the Hamas leader.

“This heinous act serves only to escalate the existing tensions potentially leading to a wider conflict that could involve the entire region,” says Tangara, whose country currently chairs the OIC.

Haniyeh’s killing “will not quell the Palestinian cause but rather it amplifies it, underscoring the urgency for justice and human rights for the Palestinian people,” he says.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states are fundamental principles underpinning the international order,” he adds. “Respecting these principles has profound implications and their violation equally carries significant consequences.”