Israel came under increasing pressure from the international community, including its main ally, the United States, to take greater measures to protect Palestinian civilians.
The number of Palestinians killed during the bombardment of the coastal enclave in the past five weeks reportedly surpassed 11,000 as the death toll rose and fighting erupted near hospitals in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a visit to India on Friday, “Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks.” He has thus far delivered his most forceful remarks on the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire.
In a late Friday BBC interview, French President Emmanuel Macron said Israel must stop bombing Gaza and killing civilians. He said France condemns Hamas’ terrorism but recognizes Israel’s right to self-defense.
Netanyahu replied that “these crimes that Hamas is committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York, and anywhere in the world.”
Israel claims that Hamas militants, who took 240 hostages of various nationalities last month, will regroup during a ceasefire.
Saudi Arabia was going to host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit on Saturday. According to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “all nations feel the necessity to unite their efforts and adopt a unified collective stance.”
Prior to departing Tehran for the summit in Riyadh, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi expressed the view that “Gaza is not a forum for verbal discourse; “it ought to be intended for action.”
“Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important,” he continued.
Hezbollah, a militant organization based in Lebanon, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two additional Palestinian militant organizations in Gaza, are all supported by Iran.
