GAZA CITY, Palestine: Palestinian resistance group Hamas said talks on Gaza’s future must begin with a complete halt to Israeli “aggression”, after US President Donald Trump chaired the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.
“Any political process or any arrangement under discussion concerning the Gaza Strip and the future of our Palestinian people must start with the total halt of aggression, the lifting of the blockade, and the guarantee of our people’s legitimate national rights, first and foremost their right to freedom and self-determination,” Hamas said in a statement on Thursday.
The comments came as Trump’s board met for its inaugural session, with several countries pledging funds and personnel to rebuild Gaza, more than four months into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Reconstruction and disarmament
Speaking at the meeting, Trump said several countries, mostly in the Gulf, had pledged more than $7 billion for Gaza’s reconstruction.
“We will help Gaza. We will straighten it out. We’ll make it successful,” the US president said.
“We will make it peaceful… Together we can achieve the dream of bringing lasting harmony to a region tortured by centuries of war, suffering.”
Trump’s plan for Gaza was endorsed by the UN Security Council in November.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that reconstruction must be preceded by Hamas’s disarmament.
“We agreed with our ally the US that there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before the demilitarisation of Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
Israel was represented at the Washington meeting by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who called for the disarmament of Hamas and “a fundamental deradicalisation process” in the Palestinian territory.
Muslim-majority Indonesia will take a deputy commander role in a nascent International Stabilisation Force, its American chief Major General Jasper Jeffers said.
Trump added that Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania had committed to providing troops.
Despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s health ministry has said at least 601 people have been killed by Israeli forces since the truce took effect.
Ramadan restrictions at Al-Aqsa
Meanwhile, tensions rose in occupied East Jerusalem as Israel imposed strict limits on Palestinian access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.
Israeli authorities said they would allow no more than 10,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to enter the holy site, and only with permits.
In previous years, up to 250,000 worshippers have attended the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.
Only children under 12, men over 55 and women aged 50 or older were eligible to apply for permits.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that by Friday morning only about 2,000 Palestinians had crossed the Qalandiya checkpoint towards Jerusalem. Hundreds queued at the crossing near Ramallah amid heightened Israeli military alert.
By late morning, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli authorities said the entry quota from the West Bank had already been filled, citing the Jerusalem governorate.
