Muslim World’s United Stance Could Have Prevented Israeli Atrocities in Gaza, President Raeisi Tells Saudi Envoy

Tuesday, 24 October 2023 6:39 PM 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi (R) receives Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Tehran Abdullah bin Saud al-Anazi on October 24, 2023. (Photo by president.ir)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says a united stance by the Muslim world could have prevented the Israeli regime, which is backed by its Western allies, from perpetrating unprecedented atrocities against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Raeisi made the remarks in a meeting with Abdullah bin Saud al-Anazi, Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to Tehran, while receiving his credentials on Tuesday.

The Iranian president drew attention to the 75-year history of oppression faced by the defenseless and innocent Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli regime.

He stressed that the absence of a united stance among Islamic nations had allowed the unlawful entity to persistently carry out killings and acts of aggression against the Palestinian population throughout the years.

“During the recent unprecedented crimes by the Zionist regime and its Western supporters in Gaza, a united stance by the Islamic world could have, in a more effective way, prevented the Zionist regime’s oppression and aggression as well as excessive demands by its Western supporters,” Raeisi said.

Israel launhced the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise attack into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

The Israeli attacks on Gaza have targeted places of gathering, including hospitals, schools, mosques and churches, displacing more than one million in the densely-populated region, which is home to more than 2.3 million people.

The Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip has so far reached more than 5,700 people and left over 18,000 others wounded.

More than 700 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes, the ministry added, the highest 24-hour death toll since Israel began its bombing campaign on Gaza.

The Gaza Strip, which is one of the most densely-populated places in the world, has been deprived of water, food and other basic supplies due to Israel’s total blockade.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Raeisi emphasized the necessity of efforts by diplomatic apparatuses of both Iran and Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the two countries’ capacities to strengthen mutual relations and secure the interests of regional nations and the Muslim world.

The Iranian president also censured the presence of extra-regional countries in West Asia, saying their presence in the region not only fails to solve any problems but it is itself a cause of exacerbating the problems.

Saud al-Anazi, for his part, hailed Iran-Saudi Arabia ties as “very strong” and called for strengthening mutual ties and cooperation.

“The relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are very strong as the ties and commonalities of the two nations and countries outweigh their differences,” he said.

The Saudi ambassador to Tehran underlined that the Islamic Republic has offered assistance to his country in many fields and issues, and expressed hope for an ever increasing improvement and expansion of relations and cooperation between the two countries.