Negotiations urged for Gaza ceasefire

The Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council in Doha condemned the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the killing of civilians and stressed the need for negotiations to reach a ceasefire in a statement after the 49th Extraordinary meeting of the council on Tuesday.

It also stressed its rejection of the military escalation carried out by the Israeli authorities in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, the prevention of relevant international organizations from delivering humanitarian aid and operating medical facilities. The council also hoped the United States would pressure Israel.

According to an update by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday, at least 410 Palestinians have been killed since late May by the Israeli military while trying to fetch from controversial new aid hubs in Gaza.

As of Wednesday, dozens of citizens have been killed and injured since dawn in Israeli warplane bombings in the Gaza Strip, Wafa News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, seven Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when their armored vehicle was struck by an explosive, an Israeli military official said on Wednesday.

UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Keetan said Israel's militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution.

He also said the weaponization of food for civilians by restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services constitutes a war crime and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law.

Muslim Imran, director of the Asia Middle East Center for Research and Dialogue in Malaysia, told China Daily that the GCC members viewed Israel "as a colonial power trying to expand its hegemony in the region".

Although some GCC member states have open diplomatic ties with Israel, there is a realization within the establishment and within these countries that Israel is a "foreign colonial instrument that is trying to undermine their stability, progress and regional relations".

Diplomatic efforts

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday that talks for a Gaza ceasefire "intensified in recent hours" with mediator countries.

"Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours," Taher al-Nunu said.

He cautioned, however, that the group had "not yet received any new proposals" to end the fighting.

The Israeli government declined to comment on any new ceasefire talks beyond saying that efforts to return Israeli hostages in Gaza were ongoing "on the battlefield and via negotiations".

Key mediator Qatar announced on Tuesday that it would launch a new push for a ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that "great progress" was being made to end the fighting in Gaza.

"I think great progress is being made on Gaza," Trump told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands, adding that his special envoy Steve Witkoff had told him "Gaza is very close".

In a news release, Medecins Sans Frontieres noted that as international focus shifted to the conflict between Israel and Iran, Israeli forces have ramped up their activities in the West Bank.

In Ramallah, a weekly session on Tuesday of the Palestinian Cabinet discussed ongoing regional and international efforts aimed at halting the Israeli fighting against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Wafa News Agency reported.

Led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, the Cabinet emphasized that any declaration of a ceasefire must lead to tangible and just outcomes — chief among them a complete cessation of Israeli aggression.

Agencies contributed to this story.

jan@chinadailyapac.com