Senior political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh has called for Pakistan’s support against Israeli aggression, saying “If Israel faced resistance from Pakistan, the perpetration of cruelty could cease.”

He was virtually addressing the National Dialogue on ‘The Sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Responsibility of the Muslim Ummah’ organised by Majlis Ittehad-e-Ummah Pakistan at the Jinnah Convention Centre on Wednesday.

The Hamas leader said that Israel’s actions including the arrest of around 16,000 Palestinians and desecration of holy sites were a violation of international norms.

Haniyeh warned against the establishment of diplomatic relations between Islamic countries and Israel, saying that it would severely damage the Palestinian cause.

He said that Pakistan was a brave nation as he referred to the country as a land of Mujahideen.

The Hamas leader claimed that Hamas was currently countering Israel’s most advanced weapons.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked a rarely used article of the UN Charter calling on the Security Council to “press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and unite in a call for a full humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Article 99 of the founding UN Charter allows him to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

In a letter to the Council, Guterres said that more than eight weeks of fighting overall had “created appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”