Netanyahu, Sisi call on US to back MBS on Khashoggi killing - report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi have called on the White House to keep supporting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a hit squad sent from Riyadh, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The report cited US officials who said Netanyahu described the crown prince as a “strategic ally” in the Middle East. The Post said Egypt's president Sidi had conveyed a similar message.

Bin Salman has been at the centre of speculation about Khashoggi's killing after several members of the hit squad were linked to him.

Strangled and dismembered

Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor Irfan Fidan on Wednesday issued a statement outlining how the hit squad strangled the prominent journalist soon after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, then dismembered his body.

The Saudi narrative on Khashoggi's death has shifted several times. Initially, Riyadh said he left the consulate alive. Then it said he died by accident during an argument. And later it admitted he had been killed in a premeditated murder.

Turkey is calling for an end to the cover-up and demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal who ordered the killing and hand over the culprits for trial in Istanbul.