The international community will have to keep up the pressure on Israel after a ceasefire in Gaza, the Palestinian prime minister says.
Negotiators in Doha are trying to broker a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas that has left tens of thousands dead.
The international community will have to keep up pressure on Israel to agree to a Palestinian state after a truce in the Gaza Strip deemed inevitable, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday.
Mustafa said ahead of a meeting in Oslo on a two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian, in the Middle East:
“The truce we are talking about (…) is mainly due to international pressure. It shows that the pressure is bearing fruit.”
Israel “must realise what is just and what is unjust, and that the veto on peace and a Palestinian state will no longer be accepted or tolerated,” he added, speaking to the press.
The Palestinian prime minister made the remarks on the sidelines of the third meeting of the “International Alliance for the Two-State Solution,” which is attended by representatives of some 80 states and organisations.
Negotiations on a ceasefire agreement “in the final stages”
At the same time, negotiators in Doha are trying to finalise a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas that has killed tens of thousands of people in the Palestinian territory. Qatar, which is the main mediating country along with the United States and Egypt, said the talks were “at the final stage” and “major issues” had been resolved, but did not specify which ones.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it was “cautiously optimistic” about a truce in Gaza, which has been portrayed as inevitable, deeming a cessation of hostilities “extremely necessary” amid a “humanitarian catastrophe.” “A ceasefire and a truce are extremely necessary for the people who remain in Gaza and who are experiencing these absolutely inhuman difficulties and need a ceasefire, all possible forms of humanitarian aid,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Finally, a spokesman for Palestinian Islamic Jihad told AFP on Wednesday that a delegation from its movement had travelled to Qatar to take part in discussions with other Palestinian groups on prisoners to be released in the event of a truce in Gaza.
“A delegation of leading members of the Islamic Jihad movement arrived in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in the final negotiations on a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” a spokesman for the armed group, which is allied with Hamas, said.
