Working to contain Israel-Gaza conflict: Saudi Arabia

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Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli airstrike on buildings in the refugee camp of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip on October 9, 2023. (AFP)
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  • The crown prince also spoke on the phone with Egyptian president and Jordan's king on the crisis
  • According to many analysts, the Saudi-Israel normalisation deal has now been dealt a heavy blow by the fighting

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia–Saudi Arabia’s crown prince told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas he was working to prevent “an expansion” of conflict after the surprise Hamas attack on Israel, Saudi state media said early Tuesday.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also told Abbas the Gulf kingdom continued “to stand by the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights to a decent life, achieve their hopes and aspirations, and achieve just and lasting peace,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Reeling from the Palestinian Islamist group’s unprecedented ground, air and sea attacks, Israel has counted 800 dead and launched a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza that have raised the death toll there to 687.

The spiralling violence kicked off amid speculation that Saudi Arabia, which has never recognised Israel, would agree to normalise ties as part of a deal in which it would obtain security guarantees from the United States as well as assistance developing a civilian nuclear programme.

However Prince Mohammed told Fox News last month that the Palestinian issue was “very important” for Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam in Mecca and Medina.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (AFP)

“We need to solve that part. We need to ease the life of the Palestinians,” Prince Mohammed said.

Analysts say any progress towards normalisation has now been dealt a heavy blow by the ongoing fighting.

Prince Mohammed has also spoken about the crisis by phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, SPA reported.

In the meantime, Palestinian militant group Hamas, which dragged off about 150 people in its surprise weekend assault on Israel, threatened to execute the hostages if Israeli air strikes continue “targeting” Gaza residents without warning.

The threat came after Israel on Monday imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip, cutting off food, water and electricity supplies, and sparking fears of an increasingly dire humanitarian situation.

Israel has been left reeling from Hamas’s unprecedented ground, air and sea attacks, likening them to 9/11.

The death toll rose to 900 in Israel, which has retaliated with a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza, raising the death toll there to 687.

Fireballs repeatedly lit up Gaza City Monday night as explosions sounded and sirens wailed.

Hamas — which the Israeli army estimates sent about 1,000 fighters across the border, spraying gunfire at civilians — said Monday that Israeli air strikes had killed four of the hostages.

It later said it could start killing them itself.

“Every targeting of our people without warning will be met with the execution of one of the civilian hostages,” the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement.

In a televised speech Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Hamas to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, and said Israel planned to carry out a “massive” assault against Hamas with “unprecedented force”.

“Hamas terrorists bound, burned and executed children. They are savages. Hamas is ISIS,” Netanyahu said.

He also vowed to “strengthen other fronts in the north against Hezbollah”, where militants and Israeli forces exchanged fire for a second day.

Hamas launched more rockets as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where missile defence systems fired and air raid sirens blared.

Israel said it had called up 300,000 army reservists for its “Swords of Iron” campaign. Truck convoys moved tanks to the south, where its forces were working to dislodge holdout Hamas fighters.

Israeli military spokeswoman Libby Weiss said some Hamas militants “are still there right now”.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on the long-blockaded enclave of 2.3 million people: “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement, and warned Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.

Palestinians in the coastal territory braced for what many feared will be a massive Israeli ground attack aiming to defeat Hamas and liberate the hostages.

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