TEHRAN- The foreign minister of Iran has asserted that efforts by Arab and Muslim nations can put a halt to Israel’s ongoing war crimes against the Palestinian people in the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian made the comments in a news interview on Saturday night following his attendance at the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit against Israel’s assault on Gaza in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, together with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

“The meeting was held tardily. However, we believe that if the leaders of Muslim countries and the general secretaries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League make necessary efforts, we can witness the cessation of war crimes by the Zionist regime at this juncture,” he said.

The summit denounced “the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the war crimes” and the “barbaric, inhumane and brutal massacres” carried out by the occupying regime against the Palestinian people in the final communiqué.

Additionally, it demanded that the UN Security Council make “a decisive and binding decision” to put an end to the slaughter in Gaza.

The meeting also called for the International Criminal Court (ICC), headquartered in The Hague, to finish delving into war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing against the Palestinian people.

Originally, the 22 members of the Arab League were expected to attend Saturday’s summit. However, the event was later expanded to include the OIC, a wider association of 57 mostly Muslim-majority states.

Speaking at the gathering, Raisi declared that the “army of the occupying and aggressor regime should be designated as a terrorist organization and that the blind bombardment against Gaza must stop.”

Important fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran has decided to warmly embrace Islamic nations based on a policy of good neighborliness and regional unity,” the president stressed.

Raisi cautioned regional leaders about the urgency the Islamic world is facing today. “Today is the day of action,” he said, adding that regional states must muster up all they have to defend the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.  

On October 7, following Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity, Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza which left thousands dead and injured. 

Additionally, it has established a complete siege on the coastal sliver, depriving the more than two million Palestinian residents of their water, food, fuel, and power.