On the eve of the “summit”… the heads of Arab and Islamic countries head to Saudi Arabia

Leaders of Arab and Islamic countries began arriving in Saudi Arabia in preparation for a summit to be held on Monday to discuss the war in Gaza and Lebanon and developments in the region, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

At the end of October, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the summit at the first meeting of an international coalition established to advance a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The summit will be held with the aim of “discussing the continuation of Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian territories and Lebanon and developments in the situation in the region,” according to what the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

It comes “as an extension of the joint Arab-Islamic meeting held in Riyadh on November 11, 2023” at the initiative of the Arab League (Cairo) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (Jeddah).

The Saudi Al-Ikhbariya channel broadcast scenes of the arrival of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is also expected to attend the summit, according to what Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry announced last week, indicating that he intends to call for an “immediate end on the genocide in Gaza” and “immediately stop Israel’s recklessness. in the area.”

Among the fifty-seven members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the twenty Arab League, there are countries that recognize Israel and others that oppose the regional integration.

The summit held last year in Riyadh saw a difference in conditions regarding the removal of economic and diplomatic relations with Israel and the elimination of oil supplies.

The war in the Gaza Strip began after an attack by the anti-Islamic Movement (Hamas) on October 7, 2023, killing 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on Israeli official figures, including those who died or were killed in captivity.

During the attack, the terrorists kidnapped 251 people, 97 of whom are still in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli army says are dead.

Since then, Israel has responded with devastating bombing and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, killing 43,603 people, most of them civilians, according to the latest figures from the Hamas Health Ministry.

The war spread to Lebanon after Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas.

Since the end of September, Israel has intensified its airstrikes and started ground operations in Lebanon, about a year after it switched to cross-border bombing by the Iran-backed Hezbollah against the Gaza war.