Saudi crown prince, African leaders call for end to Israel's war on Gaza

Saudi Arabia's crown prince has called for an end to the war in Gaza, a stance later echoed in a declaration with African leaders attending a summit in Riyadh.

"We condemn what Gaza is facing from military assault, targeting of civilians, the violations of international law by the Israeli occupation authorities," Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said during the African-Saudi summit in the kingdom's capital.

"We stress on the need to stop this war and the forced displacement of Palestinians," he added.

Israeli air strikes hit three Gaza hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 27 people, and a ground battle was underway near another hospital, Palestinian officials said.

Leaders attending the African-Saudi summit in a joint declaration said military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories needed to stop and civilians must be protected, the state Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Leaders who attended the summit included the presidents of Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Djibouti and Mauritania, the prime ministers of Ethiopia and Niger, and the foreign minister of Egypt.

The leaders "stressed the need to end the real cause of the confli ct represented by the Israeli occupation," calling for intensified efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution "to guarantee the Palestinian people their right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," according to SPA.

They said the international community must play an important role in pressuring Israel to "stop Israeli attacks and the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza," which it called "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international laws."

The African-Saudi leaders, in the "Riyadh Declaration", called for relief organisations, including the United Nations Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA, to be supported in their efforts.

Saudi Arabia, as part of its Vision 2030 plan to overhaul its economy, will invest about $25B in Africa by the end of the decade, SPA said.

Saudi exports to the continent worth $10B will be financed and insured through 2030, and the Saudi Fund for Development will finance development projects worth about $5B in the same time frame, SPA added.

More than 50 deals and preliminary agreements were signed during the summit in fields including tourism, energy, finance, mining and logistics, SPA said.