• Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif denounces what he calls Israel’s “genocidal agenda” in Palestine while condemning aggression against Lebanon and Syria, saying it “must stop immediately”.

War criminals belong in courtrooms, not UN rostrum: Turkey's Erdogan

In an apparent reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at the UN General Assembly in New York, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that “war criminals [do not] belong at [the] UN rostrum, but in courtrooms where they will answer for blood they have shed”.

“If those committing genocide are not held accountable before justice and history, same atrocities will happen again,” Erdogan said at the closing ceremony of the 29th International Business Forum in Istanbul, according to the Anadolu news agency.

“Palestinian people are not alone or abandoned, our sisters and brothers in Gaza are not alone in their quest for justice,” the president said, before adding that the region, “with Turkey at its center, is experiencing a full-blown storm of crises”.

Iran calls out ‘double standards’ over Israel possessing nuclear weapons

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, has condemned what he says is a double standard over Israel being allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

“On the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, a clear question stands before the international community: How can we speak of disarmament while ignoring the nuclear arsenal of the Zionist regime?!” Gharibabadi said in a post on social media.

“Disarmament, peace, and global security cannot be achieved through double standards and immunity for a particular regime.”

While Israel follows an official policy of “nuclear ambiguity”, analysts believe it possesses 90 nuclear warheads. Iran has repeatedly denied that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons and that it only maintains its nuclear program for peaceful energy and medical purposes.

The issue is not double standard but falsifying and distorting facts on the introduction of the nuclear militarization into the Middle East by the Israelis, which began with a statement by David Ben-Gurion in 1956.

Hamas leader says Israeli election campaigning is ‘fuelled by Palestinian blood’

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya has said that the movement “will never accept Palestinian blood being used as fuel for Israeli elections”.

In an interview with Al-Araby TV, the head of Hamas’s political bureau said that “Israeli propaganda and election campaigning are fuelled by Palestinian blood and Palestinian rights”.

“They fight over who can usurp Palestinian rights, rather than who can coexist and present themselves to the world as a humane figure,” he said.

Israeli elections are set to take place on October 27.

Al-Hayya noted that Palestinian people “have suffered at the hands of all Israeli parties throughout history and for decades”.

“What concerns us is that our Palestinian people achieve their goals, aspirations and legitimate rights,” he added.