Saudi Arabia calls for ceasefire in Gaza, says ‘de-escalation’ in region is top priority

Visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, left, listens to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 16, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)
Visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, left, listens to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 16, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)

Saudi Arabia issues a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, on a visit to Islamabad, says international efforts toward a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been “wholly insufficient.”

“We are now actively discussing the potential for famine in Gaza, and it means people are starving to death because humanitarian assistance is not getting to them,” he says. “This is an unacceptable situation.”

Without directly mentioning an Iranian attack on Israel over the weekend, he says “we are already in an unstable region, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is already inflaming the region. We do not need more conflict in our region, we do not need more confrontation in our region, so it is our position that the de-escalation must be everybody’s priority.”

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