UPDATE - Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar condemn Israeli official's statements on using nuclear weapon on Gaza

UPDATES WITH MORE STATEMENTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL, Türkiye (AA) - Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Qatar on Sunday all strongly condemned statements by an Israeli Cabinet minister saying dropping a bomb on the besieged Gaza Strip is one of Israel’s “options” in its current war on Gaza.

"The failure to immediately dismiss the minister from the government and merely suspending his membership reflects the utmost disregard for all human, ethical, religious, and legal standards by the Israeli government," said the Saudi Foreign Ministry, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Jordan also condemned the official's statements, calling them a "call for genocide and a hate crime that cannot be ignored, as well as incitement to murder and the commission of war crimes, in addition to the crimes committed against the people of the Gaza Strip."

Sufyan Al-Qudah, spokesperson for Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, said “such statements represent a blatant and unacceptable violation of international law and humanitarian law, and constitute a dangerous escalation that requires the international community to take immediate action against it.”

He added that “combating hate speech involves effective steps that would compel Israel, as the occupying power, to cease its ongoing attacks on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, as well as its violations of international law and humanitarian law.”

"Qatar strongly condemns the threat made by an Israeli minister to strike Gaza with a nuclear bomb and considers it a serious incitement to a war crime,” said the country’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday, adding its voice to the chorus of denunciations.

Qatar also decried Israel's leniency towards the official's threats by merely suspending him, not dismissing him.

The statement stressed that the provocative and odious remarks are extensions of the Israeli government’s escalation politics in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Earlier on Sunday, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said that “one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the strip,” The Times of Israel reported.

In a radio interview, Eliyahu also “voiced his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

After the remarks, Eliyahu was suspended from government meetings indefinitely, the premier’s office said, adding that his statements “are not based in reality.”

Israel and the Israeli army “are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents,” the office said.