नवीनतम
Rubio seeks quick deployment of International Gaza Force
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio voiced hope Friday of soon putting together an international force to police the ceasefire in Gaza, as Palestinian factions agreed that a committee of independent technocrats would run the post-war territory.
The secretary of state visited Israel on the heels of Vice President JD Vance as part of an all-out effort by the United States to persuade both Hamas and Israel to respect the truce. Rubio said it was critical for the deal to create "the conditions for the stabilisation force to come in as soon as it possibly can be put together".
He expressed optimism for a durable end to the two-year Gaza war as he met Israeli, US and other Western forces monitoring the ceasefire from inside a vast converted warehouse in southern Israel.
The deal, spearheaded by President Donald Trump, calls for an international force to oversee security after Israel's ceasefire with Hamas, whose unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023 sparked a war that has left Gaza in ruins.
The main Palestinian factions, including Hamas, said Friday they had agreed during a meeting in Cairo that a temporary Palestinian committee of independent technocrats would take over the running of Gaza.
The committee would "manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions", according to a joint statement published on Hamas's website.
The statement also urged a meeting of all forces and factions to "agree on a national strategy and to revitalise the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah.
Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007, has already made it clear that it does not wish to govern the post-war territory, but it has pushed back against the insistence that it disarm its fighters.
"We have agreed on the arrangements for the second phase of managing Gaza, affirming that it will be under Palestinian administration, with no separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement on social media.
"The upcoming meetings will address the relationship with the occupation, the fate of the resistance's weapons and discussions regarding the presence of international forces," he added.
