“Hamas welcomed the ceasefire proposal in Gaza and we now await Israel’s response”
This was announced by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who was visiting Madrid today during a press conference with his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albare. “The proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of prisoners and detainees must be accepted. The first statements from Hamas indicate that it has welcomed the proposed agreement and we are now waiting for the Israeli response.” Shoukry stressed that “the war in the Gaza Strip exposes the region to chaos and Israel’s practices violate international law.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately responded: “Truce only on our terms”
“The claim that we agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met is not true.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this while speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. Ynet reports it. According to a political source, in his speech, Netanyahu explained that Israel was not committed to ending the war without achieving its objectives: the elimination of Hamas’ military and governance capabilities in the Gaza Strip, the release of all the hostages and the fact that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel. The prime minister further added that the proposed scheme allows Tel Aviv to resume fighting at any time.
Netanyahu’s position appears incompatible with that of the Egyptian minister
“We must respect the rules of international law, respect the decisions of the International Court of Justice and preserve the system of international multilateral action,” he said, in the knowledge that “the war in the Gaza Strip has had catastrophic repercussions on the Palestinian people” until make the territory “unlivable”.
We hope to resolve the Palestinian cause on the basis of the two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.” “The Egyptian position is clear in rejecting the Israeli presence on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing,” he continued, specifying that “the peace treaty with Israel is important and must be respected” and that “it is difficult to restore the Rafah crossing without a ‘Palestinian administration on the other side’.
The Egyptian minister also reiterated that Cairo opposes an Israeli presence at the Rafah border, between the Egyptian Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip. “It is difficult for the Rafah Pass to continue to function without a Palestinian administration,” Shoukry noted.
Facts & Events editorial team
