Gaza Strip
\nGaza mediators Egypt and Qatar, and six other Muslim-majority countries have raised the alarm over Israel\u2019s stated plan for a one-way opening of the Rafah border crossing, which would allow Palestinians to leave their territory, but not to return, and block the entry of humanitarian aid.
\nTheir warning comes as Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated, with some 600 violations of the ceasefire in the last seven weeks, and reports that three people were killed in the latest round of attacks on Saturday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
\nThe foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement on Friday that expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d over a recent Israeli military announcement that the \u201cRafah Crossing will open in the coming days exclusively for the exit of residents from the Gaza Strip to Egypt\u201d.
\nThe announcement, which breaches Israeli obligations under the first phase of a United States-led peace plan, was made on Wednesday by an Israeli military unit called the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), stating that one-way crossing would be allowed with Israeli \u201csecurity approval\u201d in coordination with Egypt.
\nHowever, Egypt and its cosignatories slammed the plan, expressing their \u201ccomplete rejection of any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land\u201d and stressing the need for Israel to fully comply with US President Donald Trump\u2019s 20-point plan, which calls for the Rafah crossing to be opened in both directions.
\nSince the October 10 ceasefire took effect under Trump\u2019s plan, Israeli authorities have stalled on reopening it to allow desperately needed aid to enter and people requiring medical treatment to leave, citing Hamas\u2019s failure to return the bodies of all captives and the need for coordination with Egypt. Only one captive\u2019s body remains in Gaza, and retrieval has been hampered by the widespread destruction of the enclave under Israeli bombardment.
\nThe ministers said they appreciated Trump\u2019s peace efforts, which foresee the formation of a technocratic Palestinian government supported by a multinational stabilisation force under the supervision of an international \u201cboard of peace\u201d, insisting that his plan move forward \u201cwithout delay or obstruction\u201d.
\nThey urged that conditions be established allowing the Palestinian Authority to \u201cresume its responsibilities in Gaza\u201d, calling for \u201csustainable peace\u201d that would enable the two-state solution to be rolled out, with \u201can independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders, including Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital\u201d.
\nGaza featured prominently at the Doha Forum on Saturday, an annual diplomatic conference in Qatar, with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani saying that the two-month ceasefire was at a \u201ccritical moment\u201d.
\n\u201cWe cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, (and) there is stability back in Gaza,\u201d he said.
\nAlso speaking at the conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that negotiations over the Gaza international stabilisation force (ISF) remained ongoing, including its mandate and rules of engagement, and that its main objective should be to separate Israelis and Palestinians along the border.
\nArab and other Muslim countries, which had expressed interest in providing troops for an ISF, had insisted the US include more defined language about Palestinian self-determination in the plan before a United Nations Security Council vote last month. Israeli attempts to stymie the move failed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza Strip Gaza mediators Egypt and Qatar, and six other Muslim-majority countries have raised the alarm over Israel\u2019s stated plan for a one-way opening of the Rafah border crossing, which would allow Palestinians to leave their territory, but not to return, and block the entry of humanitarian aid. Their warning comes as Israel\u2019s genocidal war […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-518630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n