Israel's 'expanding' aggression can trigger wider Mideast conflict, warns Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan on Thursday warned that the "expanding" Israeli aggression in Gaza can trigger a "wider and more dangerous" conflict, engulfing the entire Middle East.

"The international community should take meaningful action to stop the expanding Israeli aggression which can trigger a wider and more dangerous conflict engulfing the entire region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly news briefing in the capital Islamabad.

Condemning the "increasing Israeli hostilities" in the West Bank and attacks against Lebanon and Syria, she said that Israel is acting in "complete disregard for international law and humanitarian norms."

Pakistan believes that lasting peace in the Middle East hinges on the peaceful and just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in accordance with the relevant UNSC and OIC resolutions.

Reacting to media reports that Israel has started pumping seawater into the tunnels in Gaza that will poison the land with salt, she said Pakistan strongly condemns the measures being taken by Israel against the people of Gaza.

She condemned "the inhumane bombing, the inhumane siege of the people of Gaza, the attacks against hospitals, the attacks against UN facilities and the use of measures, which will have long term implications, humanitarian, ecological and demographic implications for the Palestinian people."

"We expect the backers of Israel to call upon Israel to desist from such inhumane practices," she added.