The leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals who restored diplomatic ties this year, met in Riyadh on Saturday at a summit where they called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and unconditional delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, which Israeli forces have besieged since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

The two Islamic countries, who support opposing factions in proxy conflicts across the region, first announced their diplomatic breakthrough in March, after years of hostility, in a deal brokered by China. But it was unclear whether the shift would lead to a lasting détente between Saudi Arabia’s Sunni monarchy and Iran’s Shiite government.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, however, appears to have hastened the warming of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, just as delicate diplomacy had been inching Saudi Arabia and Israel toward possible normalization of relations. Iran, which Israel considers its most dangerous foe, is a powerful patron of Hamas.

President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, whose visit to Saudi Arabia was the first by an Iranian president to the kingdom in more than a decade, was greeted at the summit venue by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Iranian president draped on his shoulder a kaffiyeh, the black and white square checkered scarf that has become a badge of Palestinian identity.

The two leaders had spoken by phone for the first time just a few days after Oct. 7. Iran said in March that Mr. Raisi had received an invitation to visit the kingdom shortly after the two countries announced resumed relations.

The war was set off after the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel by Hamas, the armed Palestinian group that controls Gaza, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, Israel has bombarded Gaza with thousands of airstrikes, laid siege to the territory by cutting off water, food, fuel and other basic necessities, and launched a ground invasion with the stated intention of destroying Hamas, which Israel and many other countries regard as a terrorist organization.

The Israeli air war and artillery strikes have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, many of them children and women, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.

At the summit, Mr. Raisi criticized the international community for what he said was its silence on violations committed against civilians in Gaza. Both Israel and the United States — its most important ally — oppose a cease-fire for now, saying it would only allow Hamas’s military wing to regroup, though Israel has agreed to short what officials call “humanitarian pauses” to allow people to leave combat zones.

The Saudi crown prince said the crisis had demonstrated “the failure of the Security Council and the international community to put an end to the flagrant Israeli violations of international laws.”

The Arab and Muslim participants at the summit called for an arms embargo against Israel and said regional peace could not be achieved without resolving the Palestinian issue based on the two-state solution, a longtime pillar of Mideast diplomacy efforts.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, said regional countries’ pressure on Israel was beginning to pay off.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/world/middleeast/iran-saudi-arabia-gaza-cease-fire.html