Top Iraqi Muslim cleric warns of Middle East escalation

The recent high-profile killings of two leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah increased the danger of “major clashes” that could have “catastrophic consequences” for the region, he warned.

“We once again call on the world to stand against this terrible brutality,” Sistani said, urging Muslims “to unite in order to press for an end to the genocidal war” in Gaza.

On July 31, Palestinian militant group Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack, blamed on Israel, in the Iranian capital.

The assassinations, which prompted vows of retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah, are among the most serious in a series of tit-for-tat attacks that have heightened fears of a regional conflagration stemming from the Gaza war.

Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been uprooted by the war triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday’s strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians killed 93 people. Israel’s military accused militants of using the building as a command centre.

Journalists could not independently verify the death toll which, if confirmed, would be one of the largest from a single strike during the Gaza war.