UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the continued implementation of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, calling for its consolidation and transformation into lasting peace in the region.
According to a press statement from Guterres’s spokesperson, the UN Secretary-General welcomed the ceasefire as a glimpse of fragile hope of calm for the people of Gaza and Israel after months of devastation and stressed that the United Nations and its partners are rapidly scaling up aid operations across Gaza.
He commended the governments of Qatar, Egypt, the United States, and Turkey for their persistent mediation efforts and acknowledged the indispensable role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in ensuring that all releases take place safely and humanely.
The Secretary-General called on all parties to consolidate the ceasefire and transform it into a lasting peace.
He appealed to regional and international actors to seize this moment of respite to restart a credible political process that can deliver the outcome of two independent, sovereign, and democratic states—Israel and Palestine—living side by side in peace and security.
The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip commenced on Friday through Arab and international mediation, and an international summit on Middle East peace was held on Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli detention facilities.
