PM Shehbaz Sharif declares Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination a barbaric act

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday strongly denounced the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, calling it a barbaric act that ruthlessly violated international laws and rules.

He said the extraterritorial assassination had sparked widespread condemnation including from Pakistan and other countries such as Turkiye, Russia, Tehran, China and Malaysia who condemned the attack in strong words.

Chairing a meeting on the situation of Palestine, the prime minister said Ismail Haniyeh’s children and even grandchildren had also been ruthlessly martyred. The meeting was attended by the parliamentarians representing the allied political parties of the government.

He said the bloodshed in Palestine continued for the last nine months in which over 40,000 innocent Palestinians including thousands of children had been martyred. He said the barbarism was continued as several innocent Palestinians were being killed every day. “The world is silent over this barbarism,” he said, adding that ‘such terrorism and extremism is highly condemnable’.

The prime minister said despite clear verdicts from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and resolutions of the United Nations, Israel could not be stopped from its barbaric acts and Netanyahu was out to destroy Palestine. He expressed gratitude to the countries from the West such as Ireland and Spain who had openly supported the Palestinian cause and its two-state formula.