CAIRO, Sept. 22– Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia have called on Israel to immediately fulfill its commitments under the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, including ensuring the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and facilitating the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
The foreign ministers of the eight countries on Monday expressed deep concern over the continued humanitarian suffering in Gaza and stressed “the imperative of preserving the ceasefire and ending all violations,” the ministry said in a joint statement.
The ministers said the roadmap provides the framework for advancing the second phase of the U.S.-proposed Gaza peace plan, including decommissioning alongside full Israeli withdrawal, deployment of the International Stabilization Force and launch of early recovery and reconstruction across Gaza.
They also reiterated their “categorical rejection” of any measures aimed at expelling or forcibly displacing Palestinians or altering the territorial or demographic character of the occupied Palestinian territory, while calling for an immediate reversal of Israeli settlement expansion and related measures.
The ministers stressed that “Gaza must remain an integral part of the Palestinian territory” and reaffirmed support for reunifying the enclave with the West Bank and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital through the two-state solution.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would not withdraw from its current positions inside Gaza until Hamas was removed and the enclave was demilitarized, tying any further pullback to conditions Israel says have not yet been met.
Meanwhile, Gaza-based health authorities said in a daily report that 1,399 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October last year, bringing the death toll since Oct. 7, 2023, to 73,919.
The ceasefire halted Israel’s large-scale offensive, but Israeli strikes have continued. The U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan envisages further Israeli withdrawals alongside the disarmament of Hamas, but implementation has stalled. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
