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Middle East conflict

Israel's actions in Gaza go beyond self-defense, top Saudi diplomat says

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and Palestine, as well as OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taja, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the situation around Gaza with Sergey Lavrov

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud AP Photo/Andy Wong

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud

© AP Photo/Andy Wong

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. Self-defense is not a justification for what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said.

"We can see that crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip are piling up and innocent blood is being spilled <…>, hospitals and civilian infrastructure facilities are being destroyed. Self-defense cannot justify these actions," he noted at a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and top diplomats from a number of Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and Palestine, as well as OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taja, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the situation around Gaza with Lavrov.

On Sunday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced that the top diplomats, as part of their duties in the committee formed following a joint summit of the Arab League and OIC, would visit several countries in order to facilitate an end to the war in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, they made a trip to Beijing, meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. According to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, the delegation will also visit the United Kingdom, France and the United States in the coming days.

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