MOSCOW: Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit headed to Moscow on Sunday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the situation in Gaza after Hamas launched the most significant attack on Israel in years.

Aboul Gheit, who served as Egypt’s foreign minister during the final seven years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule, will discuss the “ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip,” said a spokesman for the Cairo-based league of Arab states.

TEHRAN: President Ebrahim Raisi said on Sunday that Iran supports the Palestinians’ right to self-defense and warned Israel must be held accountable for endangering the region.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, penetrated Israel at dawn on Saturday under the cover of a massive rocket barrage.

Almost 1,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, with Israel reporting more than 600 lives lost and Gaza’s Health Ministry putting its toll at 370 dead.

BEIRUT: Shelling by government forces targeting several locations in rebel-held northwest Syria killed seven civilians including four children on Saturday, a war monitor said.
The Damascus regime has been bombing opposition-held areas in apparent retaliation for an attack on a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs on Thursday that killed dozens of people.
“Seven civilians, including four children, were killed in ground bombardment by regime forces on several locations” on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported.

GAZA: Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, said on Saturday that armed Palestinian factions intend to expand the ongoing battle in Gaza to the West Bank and Jerusalem. 

The battle moved into the heart of the “zionist entity,” he said. 

“This was the morning of defeat and humiliation upon our enemy, its soldiers, and its settlers,” he said. 

“What happened reveals the greatness of our preparation. What happened today reveals the weakness of the enemy.”

CAIRO: The international community was urged on Saturday to call on Israel to cease its attacks and provocative actions against the Palestinian people.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called on the UN Security Council to “uphold its responsibility” and “put measures in place to protect Palestinian rights.”

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned of a “vicious cycle” of violence.