Gaza carnage spreads anger across Mideast
CAIRO/JERUSALEM : Within hours after a blast was said to have killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital, protesters hurled stones at Palestinian security forces in the occupied West Bank and at riot police in neighbouring Jordan, venting fury at their leaders for failing to stop the carnage. A significant tragedy unfolded on Tuesday after a devastating strike on a Gaza hospital. Initial death toll estimates exceeded 500.
Palestinians and Israelis have blamed each other for the hospital bombing. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas—friends of the US who normally relish the chance to meet with American presidents—called off a planned Wednesday summit with Joe Biden, who will now only visit Israel. Iran, meanwhile, is seeking an oil embargo and other sanctions against Israel over its airstrikes on Gaza.
Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, called for “an immediate and complete embargo on the Zionist regime by Islamic countries, an oil embargo against the regime," according to a ministry statement. Amirabdollahian made the comments in the Saudi city of Jeddah at an urgent meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, called to discuss the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Iran, a major oil exporter, has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
While other Middle Eastern energy producers, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have criticized Israel for its strikes on Gaza, they’ve not talked of halting oil sales to it or any of its allies. US secretary of state Antony Blinken spent much of the past week meeting with Arab leaders to try to keep tensions in check, but those efforts are now in doubt following the hospital blast. The raw nerve of
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