11/27/2024–|Last updated: 11/27/202405:13 PM (Mecca time)
Today, Wednesday, the United States and active forces in the Middle East began working to reach an end to the war in the Gaza Strip, hours after the ceasefire took effect between the Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the United States will begin its new effort today, Wednesday, to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
This came a day after US President Joe Biden announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.
In an interview with MSNBC, Sullivan said, “President Biden intends to begin this work today through envoys communicating with Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, and other actors in the region.”
Biden had previously pledged to work in the coming days with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, and Israel to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden said, “We will work to release the hostages from Gaza and end the war without Hamas in power.”
In Cairo, the Egyptian presidency said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received, today, Wednesday, the Prime Minister and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, “and they discussed joint efforts aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza.”
She added that the two sides stressed the extreme importance of empowering and supporting all Lebanese state institutions to preserve Lebanon’s security and sovereignty.
Earlier, Qatar expressed its welcome of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. She said she hopes it will lead to a similar agreement to stop the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
Heading to Turkey
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that his country is ready to help in any way possible to reach a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
He expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire agreement that entered into force in Lebanon.
“We declare that we, as Türkiye, are ready to make any contribution to end the massacre in Gaza and achieve a permanent ceasefire,” Erdogan told deputies from his ruling Justice and Development Party.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that Israel asked Turkey to intervene in mediation with Hamas to reach a prisoner exchange deal.
The Israeli Channel 12 criticized Israel’s request from Türkiye to mediate with Hamas.
The channel said that Erdogan, who yesterday described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a Nazi, “turned in an instant into a sponsor of mediation between Israel and Hamas.”
Russian comment
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate, as a result of Israel’s policies, which he described as aggressive.
He stressed that Washington’s desire to monopolize mediation and sacrifice Security Council resolutions are among the reasons for the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East.
It is noteworthy that, with American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 149,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the… The worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
On the Lebanese side, the Israeli aggression left more than 3,000 dead and large numbers of wounded, in addition to the displacement of residents of villages in southern Lebanon.