Pakistan on Thursday condemned Israel’s adventurism in the region and its aggression against Lebanon with its strikes of July 30, calling for holding to account the killers of Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of the political bureau of Hamas in Tehran.

“Targeting individuals inside sovereign states is a violation of international law and global norms. Such acts carry the seeds of further escalation,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly press briefing.

“It is yet another demonstration of indiscriminate and disproportionate Israeli aggression that has continued unabated to the detriment of regional and global peace and security.”

The Middle East situation got tensed with the assassination of Haniyeh, with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that the group was bound to respond to Israel’s killing of its top military commander, saying his death and that of the Hamas leader “crossed” red lines.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel was prepared for any “aggression” following threats of retaliation for the killings of Haniyeh and Shukr.

The FO spokesperson described Israel’s military aggression in Beirut as a “grievous infringement” on Lebanon’s sovereignty and the violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. Pakistan stood in solidarity with the people of Lebanon and reaffirmed its support for their right to live in peace and security and to enjoy their sovereignty, she said.

“Israel must be held accountable for its transgressions and actions. Israel’s extraterritorial acts have endangered regional security. The backers of Israel should prevail on Israel to end its unlawful military operations in violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in the region,” she said.

Baloch went on to add that Haniyeh’s assassination was an act of “dangerous escalation” in an already volatile region and undermined efforts for peace. “We express our condolences to his family and the Palestinian people. His killers must be held to account,” she added.

Since October 2023, she said that Israel had unleashed a campaign of terror against the Palestinian people.

“Its war on Gaza and the inhumane siege in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law have resulted in misery, death and destruction. These acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. We call upon the United Nations to uphold international law and to bring an end to the genocide of the people of Gaza,” she stated and reiterated Pakistan’s support for the realisation of the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, their right of return to Palestine and the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.