Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Wednesday the foreign-mediated humanitarian deal between his Hamas rivals and Israel in the Gaza Strip, and called for wider solutions to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Abbas' administration, based in the occupied West Bank, "appreciate(s) the Qatari-Egyptian (mediation) effort", wants an extended truce with Israel and "the implementation of a political solution based on international legitimacy," a social media post by senior Palestinian aide Hussein Al-Sheikh said.
Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, while offering besieged Gaza residents a four-day truce after weeks of all-out war.
In the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the war, Israel, Hamas, the United States and Qatar sketched in a series of statements a carefully sequenced agreement that has been weeks in the making, said AFP.
Under the Qatar-brokered deal, Palestinian militants will release 50 women and children kidnapped during their October 7 raids, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups are believed to be holding an estimated 240 Israelis and foreigners hostage in Gaza.
Jordan said it hoped the truce would be a step that would end the war in Gaza and prevent the targeting of Palestinians and their displacement from their land.
In a statement on state media, the foreign ministry said it hoped the four-day pause in fighting agreed between the Israel's government and Hamas will allow much-needed humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed the deal, crediting it to successful Egyptian, Qatari and American mediation.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, he underscored “Egypt’s ongoing efforts to reach lasting and sustainable solutions to achieve justice and peace and secure the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
