Saudi Arabia & Iran condemn Israeli air strikes on Gaza
GAZA/RIYADH/TEHRAN, August 07 (SABAH): Saudi Arabia and Iran on Sunday condemned the Israeli air strikes on Palestinian city of Gaza.
Saudi Arabia condemned the ongoing Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which left at least 32 Palestinians dead and dozens injured.
A statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the kingdom stands by the Palestinian people, calling on the international community to “shoulder its responsibility to end the escalation, provide the necessary protection to civilians and exert all efforts to end this conflict.”
The statement further said that civilians must be protected from the violence.
Meanwhile Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that the resistance of the Palestinians against Israeli aggressions “would expedite the fall of the child-killing”.
“The Zionist regime once again showed its aggressive and occupying conduct to the world, but the resistance of people of Gaza would expedite the fall of this child-killing regime,” Ebrahim Raisi said.
Meanwhile the death toll from violence in Gaza rose to 32, including six children, on Sunday according to Palestinian health officials as Israel continued its assault on the territory for the third consecutive day. More than 215 others were wounded in the attacks.
An Israeli air strike also killed a second senior commander of a Palestinian armed group, the fighters said on Sunday. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement (PIJ) retaliated with barrages of rockets fired at Israel as the country pressed on with its assault on Gaza.
The killing late Saturday of Khaled Mansour, who led the Islamic Jihad’s operations in the southern Gaza Strip, came a day after another Israeli strike killed the militant’s commander in the north.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israel pressed on with its operation against the Islamic Jihad group, arresting 20 suspects in overnight raids, the army announced on Sunday.
Palestinian militants retaliated with rockets fired toward Israel, triggering air raid sirens in Jerusalem, the Israel army said Sunday. The Islamic Jihad later confirmed the group had fired rockets at Jerusalem.
The hundreds of rockets fired by Islamic Jihad in response is why the operation continues, said Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar, a member of the decision-making security cabinet.
Another potential flashpoint loomed on Sunday as Jews commemorating two ancient temples visited a major Jerusalem mosque compound that they revere as vestige of those shrines. Palestinians deem such visits a religious and political affront.
The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad confirmed on Sunday that an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed Mansour and two fellow fighters. The armed wing of PIJ said the strike also killed five civilians, including a child and three women, as it flattened several homes.