Foreign Minister of Lebanon, Bou Habib has disclosed his country’s government support for the Qatari-American-Egyptian statement calling for renewed commitment to ceasefire negotiations.
He stated that “the efforts of the leaders of these countries deserve praise.”
A joint statement from these countries, who have played a mediating role in the Israel-Hamas conflict, called for the resumption of ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners on August 15, 2024, in Doha or Cairo.
“There is no time for further delay,” Bou Habib said, adding that the Lebanese government urges all parties to end the war and release the hostages as soon as possible.
“It is time for calm to return to the region,” he added.
EU Foreign policy Chief, Josep Borrell also expressed support for the renewed ceasefire push.
“The EU joins Egypt, Qatar and the US in their call for concluding, without delay, the ceasefire a stages release deal”, Borrell wrote on X.
“We reiterate our full support to their mediation to put an end to the unbearable cycle of suffering The deal will also pave the way for regional de-escalation.”
Josep Borrell
The joint statement from the US, Egypt and Qatar was welcomed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The forum thanked the countries’ leaders “for their commitment to the release of the 115 hostages who have already been in Hamas captivity for 308 days,” before appealing to the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “demonstrate leadership” and finalize a deal “for the return of all the hostages.”
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas during the October 7 terror onslaught remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that.
Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 24 hostages have also been recovered, including three abductees mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Smotrich Kicks Against Renewed Gaza Ceasefire Effort
However, Far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich took to X to voice his disapproval of the new push to stop the war in the Gaza Strip.
Smotrich said that the statement creates a “delusional symmetry” between Israeli hostages and terrorists who would be released as part of the deal, and it was “not the time” to release the murderers.
“The time has not come for a dangerous trap in which the ‘intermediaries’ dictate a ‘formula’ to us and impose a surrender agreement on us that will drain the blood we shed in the most just war we are waging,” he wrote in a long post.
He also said that reaching a yet-hypothetical deal with Hamas would “leave Hezbollah on the fences of the residents of the north,” and “play down Israel’s deterrence and its image in the Middle East [and] will present it as a weak patron state.”
Smotrich called on Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu not to move “an inch” from his red lines in negotiations, which reportedly were the main sticking point preventing a deal from being reached the last time negotiations were being conducted in mid-July.
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