Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has warned of the global situation becoming “very tense” if the Gaza conflict was allowed to linger on.

Speaking to the media after his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York, the premier said it was time to “demand two things — immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the creation of the state of Palestine, without which peace will not return in this part of the world”.

“If this situation is allowed to linger on for a [long] period, then God forbid, things can become very, very tense around the globe,” PM Shehbaz warned.

He asserted that the sacrifices of Palestinians would not go to waste and would, God-willingly, result in the creation of the state of Palestine.

The prime minister strongly condemned Israeli atrocities in Gaza over the last year, noting that this kind of barbarism had not been witnessed by mankind for ages.