Guterres Supports Transition Period Allowing Strengthened PA to Administer Gaza

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses reporters in New York on Monday (UN)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses reporters in New York on Monday (UN)
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Guterres Supports Transition Period Allowing Strengthened PA to Administer Gaza

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses reporters in New York on Monday (UN)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses reporters in New York on Monday (UN)

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for a “transition period” in the Gaza Strip, involving several countries and leading to a two-State solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The UN Chief also noted that Gaza is witnessing an unparalleled and unprecedented level of civilian death, compared to any other conflict since he became Secretary-General in 2017.
At a press conference dealing with the latest emissions, Guterres said in New York that a humanitarian ceasefire was a crucial first step, along with unrestricted access for humanitarian aid, “the liberation of hostages” and an end to violations of international humanitarian law and protection of civilians.
Also addressing how the region can move forward once the fighting stops, the UN chief said that it was “important to be able to transform this tragedy into an opportunity.”
For that to be possible, he said, “it is essential that after the war we move in a determined, irreversible way to a two-State solution.”
Guterres affirmed that this means also that after the war, it is crucial to have a strengthened Palestinian Authority to assume responsibilities in Gaza.
But the PA cannot go into Gaza backed by Israeli tanks, he added — meaning the “international community needs to look into a transition period.”
“I do not think that a UN protectorate in Gaza is a solution. I think we need a multi-stakeholder approach in which different countries, different entities, will cooperate. For Israel, of course, the US is the main guarantor of its security. For Palestinians, the neighboring and Arab countries of the region are essential,” Guterres said.
He added that everybody needs to come together to make the conditions for a transition, allowing for “a strengthened PA, to assume responsibility in Gaza in a determined and irreversible way to a two-State solution based on the principles that have been largely established by the international community.”
Asked about his repeated calls for a ceasefire, Guterres said, “We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I have been Secretary-General.”
For seven years now, Guterres has published a “list of shame” of parties to armed conflict who commit grave violations against children.
In the “shame” reports, he said the highest number of children killed in one year by one actor was the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2017-2018, followed by the Syrian government and its allies before 2020. Both times the tally was in the hundreds.
“What is clear is that we have had in a few weeks thousands of children killed,” Guterres told reporters.



Trump’s Middle East Envoy Meets Netanyahu amid Ceasefire Push

 President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
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Trump’s Middle East Envoy Meets Netanyahu amid Ceasefire Push

 President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday amid a push to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu's office said.

After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation which included the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency to Qatar in order to "advance" talks to return hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.

The mediators are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. A deal would also involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Families of Israeli hostages welcomed Netanyahu's decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as a "historic opportunity."

Witkoff arrived in Doha on Friday and met the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators received reassurances from Witkoff that the US would continue to work towards a fair deal to end the war soon, Egyptian security sources said, though he did not give any details.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its population displaced.

On Saturday, the Palestinian civil emergency service said eight people were killed, including two women and two children, in an Israeli airstrike on a former school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said the strike had targeted Hamas fighters who were operating at the school and that it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.

Later on Saturday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said five people were killed and several others were wounded in two Israeli strikes. One of the two strikes killed three people in a house near the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas fighter "in that area" at that approximate time.