ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday urged Iran and Palestine against fulfilling Benjamin Netanyahu’s designs for a “wider war” in the Middle East by avenging recent assassinations carried out by Israel.
Dar is in Jeddah to attend the OIC’s Executive Council meeting which was convened on requests by Palestine and Iran. The intergovernmental body discussed the ongoing Israeli aggression against Palestine and other regional states during the meeting. 
Tensions have escalated in the Middle East after Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last week when a short-range projectile was fired at his accommodation. Iran blamed Israel for the attack, vowing vengeance against the Jewish state. 
“We fully understand the determination of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Palestinian people to respond to and avenge the provocative and criminal assassinations by Israel and the flagrant violation of international law,” Dar told participants of the meeting.
“While such grave action must be avenged, we must not fulfill Netanyahu’s design for a wider war.”
Almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli military campaign in Gaza triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year.

Dar urged OIC member states to respond to Israel with “several collective measures” if it does not relent from its military campaign in Gaza.
“We should make it clear: if the Israeli leadership continues to subvert the legally binding demand for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the entire OIC membership would take several collective measures in response, including imposition of trade and oil sanctions,” he said.
The Pakistani minister urged OIC countries to enhance their assistance for Palestinians in Gaza so that their demands for food, medicines, energy and other essential supplies are met. He also called for Palestine’s admission as a “full member” of the United Nations. 
DAR MEETS OIC CHIEF
The Pakistani foreign minister separately met OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha on the sidelines of the meeting. 

Both leaders discussed the situation in Gaza, Indian-administered Kashmir, Islamophobia, discrimination and violence against Muslims, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The foreign minister underscored the urgency of a ceasefire and unhindered supply of humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people,” the statement said.
Dar also met the foreign ministers of Algeria and Malaysia to discuss bilateral ties and economic cooperation between the two countries.
In his meeting with Algeria’s Ahmad Attaf, the Pakistani minister noted the historic ties between the two countries, the foreign ministry added.
“Deputy Prime Minister Dar and Foreign Minister Attaf agreed to further strengthen bilateral economic ties through enhanced trade and investment,” it said.
With his Malaysian counterpart, Dar spoke about enhancing bilateral trade and investment, educational linkages, capacity building of workforce, and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.