Saudi crown prince slams Israeli 'genocide' in Gaza

What happened

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Monday that Israel was committing "genocide" against Palestinians and urged the international community to halt the country's "attacks on the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples." Qatar recently pulled out of stalled U.S.-backed efforts to mediate a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, saying neither Israel nor Hamas was negotiating in good faith.

Who said what

Prince Mohammed's comments, delivered in Riyadh at a joint meeting of the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation, marked "some of the harshest public criticism" of Israel by a Saudi official since the Gaza war broke out, the BBC said.

Mohammed "could play a major role in any eventual peace deal between Israel and its adversaries in Gaza and Lebanon," The Washington Post said. Both Donald Trump and President Joe Biden strove to achieve "normalization of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel," though the Saudi crown prince has said "he would not accept a normalization deal with Israel unless it agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state," something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday he would push for the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank after Trump takes office.

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What next?

The Biden administration will decide this week whether Israel has made enough progress increasing Gazans' access to food and humanitarian aid, a precondition for continued military support. Eight international aid organizations said Monday that Israel had "not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria" but "took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza." Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was sure "that issue will be solved."