Calls growing for permanent truce in Gaza
Calls are growing for a permanent cease-fire between the Hamas resistance group and Israel to stop attacks on the Gaza Strip and the killing of more people in the Palestinian territory.
The four-day cease-fire, which expired on Monday night, let the civilians take a breath and saw dozens of captives held by Hamas freed, with over 100 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in return.
The Palestinian group took at least 240 captives during an Oct. 7 dawn raid carried out from the Gaza Strip.
A total of 63 captives and 117 Palestinian prisoners have now been released since Friday under the truce agreement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the dialogue that led to the current “humanitarian pause” in Gaza should be continued and transformed into a “full humanitarian” cease-fire.
Iran on Monday also demanded a permanent cease-fire to stop Israel’s “crimes” in the territory, which have left nearly 15,000 people dead – most of them women and children.
“As the Islamic Republic of Iran, we want and expect… that the crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people will be stopped completely,” said Nasser Kanaani, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Many other countries and officials from international bodies have also demanded a permanent cease-fire or extension of the truce in Gaza.
Truce extended
The humanitarian pause extended by two days, mediator Qatar said Monday.
“The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter.
According to AFP, Hamas also confirmed the two-day truce extension in Gaza Strip.
The Israeli regime has faced mounting pressure to extend the pause mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, though its leaders have dismissed any suggestions of a lasting halt to the offensive.
The terms of the truce agreement say it can be extended beyond its initial four-day term as long as 10 hostages are released for each extra day, with three times as many Palestinians freed in return.
As such, another 50 hostages would imply a five-day extension.
“The pause should be extended to make it sustainable and long lasting while working for a political solution,” The EU’s top foreign policy official Josep Borrell said on Monday in Barcelona.
Borrell called for a “political solution that should allow us to break the cycle of violence once and for all.”
US role in crimes
US President Joe Biden, whose country is providing the Israeli regime with weapons needed for fighting in Gaza, is also among those urging for an extension of the truce as Gaza suffers a dire humanitarian crisis following weeks of Israeli bombardment and siege.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Sunday that Washington is an accomplice in the Israeli crimes.
Raisi stressed that the US is “the killer of the people of Gaza” and any intervention by Americans in determining the future course of developments in the Palestinian territory “would mean the continuation of this country’s crimes against Palestinians.”
The conflict in Gaza began on October 7 when Hamas fighters attacked Israeli cities near the Gaza Strip and killed at least 1,200 people during the Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.
In response, the Israeli regime launched its brutal attacks on Gaza and imposed a total siege on the territory. The strikes have killed more than 14,800 people, including about 6,000 children and 4,000 women.
Legal action against Israel
Algeria is preparing to host an international symposium on Thursday, which will discuss the legal and judicial ways to hold Israel accountable for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people during the war on Gaza.
Delegations of lawyers and judges from Arab and European countries will participate in the international symposium.
An extension of the cease-fire would open the way to further releases of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has so far freed 39 Israeli hostages, and Israel has released 117 Palestinian prisoners under the terms of the four-day truce agreement.
A further 19 foreign nationals have been released from Gaza under separate arrangements.