By Ken Afor
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has expressed his desire for cessation of conflict in Gaza on Friday, a position further solidified by an agreement among the African heads of state including Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu present at the summit in Riyadh.
“We condemn what the Gaza Strip is facing from military assault, targeting of civilians, the violations of international law by the Israeli occupation authorities,” Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said during the African-Saudi summit in the kingdom’s capital.
“We stress the need to stop this war and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” he added.
On Friday, Israeli air strikes targeted three hospitals and a school in Gaza, resulting in the death of at least 27 people.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials reported that a ground battle was occurring near another hospital as Israel combats Hamas within the confines of the Gaza Strip.
As of Thursday, it was reported by Palestinian officials that 11,078 citizens of Gaza had lost their lives due to air and artillery strikes, with a concerningly high figure of 40% of those killed being children, as well as a high number of casualties.
Israel asserts that, since October 7, Hamas have killed around 1,400 individuals in Israel, a large majority of whom were civilians; 39 troops were also killed in battle, while around 240 people were taken captive.
In a joint declaration issued after the African-Saudi summit, leaders said military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories must be halted and civilians must be safeguarded, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Leaders who attended the summit included the presidents of Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Djibouti and Mauritania, the prime ministers of Ethiopia and Niger, and the foreign minister of Egypt.
The leaders “stressed the need to end the real cause of the conflict represented by the Israeli occupation,” calling for intensified efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution “to guarantee the Palestinian people their right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” according to SPA.
They said the international community must play an important role in pressuring Israel to “stop Israeli attacks and the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip,” which it called “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international laws.”
Israel declares that their aim is to eradicate the military and administrative capacities of Hamas after the latter’s attack in southern Israel on October 7th.
On Friday, hospitals situated in northern Gaza—the area which Israel alleges to be a stronghold of Hamas militants—were targeted.
These hospitals contained not only displaced people, but also patients and doctors. Israel has accused Hamas of using these hospitals as human shields, however, the group has denied these claims.
In the ‘Riyadh Declaration’, African-Saudi leaders urged support for relief organisations, including the United Nations Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA, to assist them in their endeavours.
The SPA has reported that, in accordance with its Vision 2030 plan to rework the economy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be investing approximately $25 billion in Africa by the end of the decade.
The Saudi Fund for Development has announced that they will finance and insure Saudi exports to the continent for a total value of $10 billion over the next ten years, while also financing development projects worth $5 billion in this same time period, SPA added.
During the summit, more than 50 deals and agreements were inked covering areas such as tourism, energy, finance, mining, and logistics, as per the SPA.
