Israel/Palästina

Following an outcry over inadequate amounts of humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza, the Israeli government says it has opened a major crossing to the north of the Gaza Strip.

US President Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, returned to Israel on Monday, as mediators face a new obstacle in their efforts to advance negotiations on the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal to the next and more complex phase. Key sticking points remain unresolved, including Hamas's disarmament, the reconstruction and future governance of Gaza, and the deployment of an international security force to the territory.

President Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan and the New York Declaration on a two-state solution have created an opening for peace in Gaza—though one that is fragile and fraught with danger. These blueprints are wide in scope but light on detail where it matters, including on stabilization support, which must be carefully designed if it is to contribute to longer-term peace in Palestine and Israel.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any stabilisation force in Gaza must have “full international legitimacy” to support Palestinians in Gaza.

The United States has circulated draft text for a U.N. Security Council resolution that would provide a mandate for an international stabilization force in Gaza for at least two years, marking the next step in President Donald Trump’s plan to halt two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

Never has the cliché that we are at a pivotal moment in Middle East diplomacy been more accurate. Yet at this critical juncture, the post of UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) has remained vacant for months. It is time to appoint a new envoy and restore the UN’s political role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The UN Secretary-General has strongly condemned the killing of civilians, including children, in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight into Wednesday, calling for all parties to uphold their commitments to the fragile ceasefire.

The chair of an independent commission investigating alleged human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told a General Assembly committee on Tuesday that Israel has committed “four genocidal acts” in Gaza, while leaders had “incited the commission of genocide.”

Countries would reject being asked to "enforce" peace in Gaza if deployed under the Trump ceasefire plan, King Abdullah of Jordan has told the BBC. … The King's comments reflect concern from the US and other nations about being dragged into a continuing conflict between Hamas and Israel, or Hamas and other Palestinian groups. 

The main Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, said Friday they had agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of post-war Gaza.