LONDON (Reuters) – Arab foreign ministers welcomed an agreement for a temporary truce between Israel and Gaza militant group Hamas on Wednesday but said it should be extended and become a first step toward a full cessation of hostilities.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan told a media briefing in London that the agreement, which includes hostage releases and stepped-up aid into the devastated Gaza Strip, should also ultimately lead to a resumption of talks for a two-state solution.
Under Wednesday’s temporary ceasefire deal, Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day pause in fighting to allow the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the humanitarian aid should be sustained and expanded, and it should not later become contingent on further hostage releases.
“Whatever humanitarian access now increases as a result of this hostage deal must remain in place and must be built upon,” he said.
“There must at no point be a reduction in this access based on progress for further release of hostages … Punishing the civilian population of Gaza for the holding of those hostages is absolutely not acceptable.”
The conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas gunmen and other militants burst across the border into Israel, killing 1,200 civilians and Israeli soldiers, and taking about 240 hostages.
Israel responded with a heavy bombardment and then invasion of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 13,000 Palestinians, including at least 5,600 children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
The Arab foreign ministers are leading a so-called contact group of mostly Muslim countries which are lobbying Israel’s major allies and the U.N. Security Council to bring about an end to the Gaza war and move towards a permanent solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
(Reporting by Mark Bendeich and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Nadine Awadalla and Michael Georgy)
