Madrid Group Meets to Push for Two-State Solution

26 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Local residents survey the profound devastation inflicted upon the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School by relentless Israeli airstrikes. Photo: Khasan Alzaanin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
26 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Local residents survey the profound devastation inflicted upon the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School by relentless Israeli airstrikes. Photo: Khasan Alzaanin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Madrid Group Meets to Push for Two-State Solution

26 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Local residents survey the profound devastation inflicted upon the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School by relentless Israeli airstrikes. Photo: Khasan Alzaanin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
26 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Local residents survey the profound devastation inflicted upon the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School by relentless Israeli airstrikes. Photo: Khasan Alzaanin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa

Spain’s capital hosted a high-level meeting on Sunday that brought together Arab and European foreign ministers in a renewed push to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The summit, convened under the so-called “Madrid Group,” aimed to pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in Gaza, ensure unrestricted humanitarian access to the besieged enclave, and revive efforts toward the long-stalled two-state solution.

Countries attending the conference included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye, Morocco, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, and members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Also taking part was the State of Palestine, which Spain formally recognized last year, a move other European countries, including France, are expected to follow as early as next month.

The meeting also gathered foreign ministers from major European nations such as Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, Iceland, Slovenia, and Malta. Brazil’s foreign minister attended as well, saying upon arrival in Madrid that he was carrying a message from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in support of efforts to achieve a two-state solution.

On his part, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez intensified diplomatic efforts in recent weeks ahead of Sunday’s landmark meeting in Madrid, which for the first time brings together major European and Islamic countries under the “Madrid Group” umbrella to deliver a strong message of support for a two-state solution and increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu and members of his government have lashed out at European leaders in recent days, accusing them of inciting violence against Jews following the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington last week. France condemned Netanyahu’s comments as “outrageous.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Madrid on Saturday to take part in the expanded ministerial gathering on Gaza and the Madrid Group’s wider efforts to address the situation in the Palestinian territories and push for an international ceasefire.

In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the talks will focus on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, international efforts to end the war, and the urgent need to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

The meeting will also discuss preparations for a high-level international conference on the two-state solution, scheduled to take place at the United Nations headquarters in New York next month, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, it added.

Earlier, the ministry said the ministerial committee formed by the Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza - headed by Prince Faisal and including Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi - met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to discuss global efforts to halt the Israeli military campaign.

Abdelatty traveled to Madrid on Sunday to join the expanded ministerial meeting. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that discussions will cover international efforts to end the war in Gaza, the deepening humanitarian crisis, and ways to ensure access for humanitarian aid.

The talks will also explore building global support for recognizing Palestinian statehood and implementing the two-state solution as the only viable path to lasting peace in the Middle East.

Sources familiar with the talks told Asharq Al-Awsat that Madrid, in parallel with its diplomatic push, is seeking to deliver humanitarian and food aid to Gaza by air or by establishing an “EU-supervised humanitarian camp” in Rafah on the Egyptian border, proposals that continue to face resistance from Israel.

Spain, which officially recognized the State of Palestine last year, is also working to submit a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly calling on the International Court of Justice to mandate Israel to allow unrestricted aid entry into Gaza.



UN Says 875 Palestinians Have Been Killed Near Gaza Aid Sites

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Says 875 Palestinians Have Been Killed Near Gaza Aid Sites

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)

The UN rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led fighters loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations," Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

The United Nations has called the GHF aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

The GHF said on Tuesday it had delivered more than 75 million meals to Gaza Palestinians since the end of May, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs.

The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israeli army by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Program said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities".