The chair of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has told a summit that the “heinous” killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh risks tipping the Middle East into “wider conflict”, AFP reports.

Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara spoke at the beginning of an extraordinary OIC session in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

The gathering of foreign ministers was called in part by Iran, where Haniyeh was killed last week in an attack the Islamic republic has blamed on Israel.

“This heinous act serves only to escalate the existing tensions potentially leading to a wider conflict that could involve the entire region,” said Tangara, whose country currently chairs the OIC.

Haniyeh’s killing “will not quell the Palestinian cause but rather it amplifies it, underscoring the urgency for justice and human rights for the Palestinian people”, he said.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states are fundamental principles underpinning the international order.

“Respecting these principles has profound implications and their violation equally carries significant consequences.”