Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded a trial of Israeli leaders, Iran's satellite Press TV reported on Saturday.

Ahmadinejad, who made the remarks in his Friday address to an emergency Arab summit on Gaza, urged the international court of justice to prosecute Israeli leaders for "war crimes" in Gaza, Press TV said.

"It is most essential that Israel's political and military leaders stand trial for the acts of genocide they have committed against Palestinians", he was quoted as saying.

On Friday afternoon, about 12 to 13 Arab leaders opened an emergency summit as scheduled in the Qatari capital Doha, despite it did not reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a summit with regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia refusing to attend.

A joint communique issued at the end of the summit meeting, hastily proposed by Qatar on Monday, called on all Arab countries to stop all peace negotiations and cut ties with Israel in response to the latter's ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip.

Iran's Supreme Leader Seyed Ali Khamenei has already urged Muslims to avoid trade with Israel saying that "Purchase, import, re-import and promotion of any products whose profits will be given to Israeli occupiers directly or indirectly are forbidden and Muslims are not allowed to do so."

Israel has been carrying out an unprecedented military air and ground offensive on Gaza since December 27, where around 1,200 Palestinians killed and more than 5,200 others wounded, almost half of them were civilians, women and children.

Radical Hamas movement enjoys strong backing from Iran which does not recognize Israel as a state of the international community.

Source:Xinhua