BARCELONA: Jordan’s top diplomat Ayman Safadi said Sunday he hopes a meeting of Mediterranean officials will help bridge a gap between European and Arab nations in calling for a humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip to become a permanent truce.
The pause in war between Hamas and Israel continued Sunday with a third day of captives and Palestinian detainees released.
A four-day humanitarian pause went into effect on Friday, temporarily stopping Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip. Under the agreement between Hamas and Israel, the captives and prisoners will be freed in batches during the course of 4 days between the two sides.
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According to media reports, on Sunday, the Palestinian Hamas released a third group of 17 captives, marking a total of 58 hostages released since the initiation of the four-day ceasefire on Friday. This exchange was accompanied by the release of 39 Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails. The Israeli army said that 13 of the released hostages have returned to Israel. The releases, part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, have brought the total number of Israelis freed to 39 since the ceasefire began, with a corresponding release of 117 Palestinian prisoners over the past three days.
Ayman Safadi stated the ceasefire was holding up but that more effort was required to reach at least 200 daily trucks bringing help and aid into the Gaza Strip, and for the pause in the war “to immediately develop into a permanent truce.”
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He made the remarks on the eve of Monday’s Union for the Mediterranean talks that will bring to Barcelona in northern Spain 42 delegations from the Middle East, Europe, and northern Africa, many of them represented by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
Safadi said Arab countries have demanded the end of Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza. He said Jordan would not accept displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a massive army campaign in Gaza after a cross-border surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. It has since killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, including children and women, according to health authorities in the Strip. Around 1,200 Israelis have also been killed in the conflict between the two sides.
