Palestinian group doesn't 'expect anything' as Arab, Muslim blocs meet in Saudi Arabia

Arab leaders and Iran's president are in the Saudi capital for summits expected to underscore demands that Israel's war in Gaza end before the violence draws in other countries, even as a Palestinian resistance group voiced frustration, saying it did not "expect anything" from the gathering.

The emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation [OIC] on Saturday come after Hamas fighters launched an audacious and unprecedented blitz in souther Israel on October 7 that Israeli officials say left about 1,200 people dead, many of them soldiers, while 239 were taken as captives to Gaza.

Since then Israel's has launched indiscriminate aerial and ground strikes that have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians and many of them children.

Aid groups have joined pleas for a ceasefire, warning of a humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza, where food, water and medicine are in short supply.

The Arab League aims to demonstrate "how the Arabs will move on the international scene to stop the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation, and hold it accountable for its crimes", the bloc's assistant secretary-general, Hossam Zaki, said this week.

But Palestinian group Islamic Jihad on Friday said it did not "expect anything" from the meeting, criticising leaders for the delay.

"We are not placing our hopes on such meetings, for we have seen their results over many years," Mohammad al-Hindi, the group's deputy secretary-general, told a press conference in Beirut.

"The fact that this conference will be held after 35 days (of war) is an indication of its outcomes."

Raisi in Riyadh

Israel and its main backer the United States have so far rebuffed demands for a ceasefire, a position that is expected to draw heavy criticism during Saturday's meetings.

A united "diplomatic front... will generate diplomatic pressure from Arab and Muslim states," said Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian.

Criticism from regional leaders so far indicates "that this is not just about Israel-Palestine -- this is about what is facilitating Israel to do this, which is basically the United States and the West", he added.

That clash has been on display during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visits to the region, as well as during a stop this week in Riyadh by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who met with a number of his Arab counterparts who have called for a ceasefire.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's expected attendance at the OIC meeting will be his first trip to Saudi Arabia since the two Middle East heavyweights reached a surprise China-brokered rapprochement deal in March, ending seven years of severed ties.

The conflict has already fuelled cross-border exchanges between the Israeli army and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Yemen's Houthis have claimed responsibility for "ballistic missiles" the rebels said targeted southern Israel.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday condemned "continued violations of international humanitarian law by the Israeli occupation forces," his first public comments on the war, though Riyadh has levelled similar criticism in multiple statements.