CAIRO, November 10. /TASS/. Hamas has called on Arab and Islamic countries that will be represented at a summit in Riyadh on November 11 to sever relations with Israel and forge an alliance to end hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

"We call on the leaders of countries who plan to take part in the upcoming summit in Riyadh to forge an international Arab-Islamic alliance that would be able to compel Israel and its allies to stop the war in Gaza and Lebanon," it said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. "We also demand that all agreements on the normalization with relations with Israel be annulled and Israel be totally isolated at all levels."

The alliance, according to Hamas, is to make efforts to break Gaza’s blockade, ensure the "withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territories, the establishment of the Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees to their home." It also urged for immediate assistance to Gaza residents ahead of the coming winter.

On October 30, the Saudi foreign ministry came out with an initiative to hold an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on November 11 "to discuss the continuing Israeli aggression in Palestinian territories and Lebanon." According to the ministry, the upcoming meeting is to be considered as a "continuation of the last year’s summit."

A year ago, on November 11, 2023, the Saudi capital city hosted an emergency summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that was called following the dramatic escalation in the region in October 2023. The summit participants set up a contact group on Gaza comprised of the top diplomats from Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, as well as the OIC secretary general. In November and December 2023, they visited Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, and France to discuss ways of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.