Abbas Says Gaza War Must End, Conference Needed to Reach Settlement

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Reuters
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Reuters
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Abbas Says Gaza War Must End, Conference Needed to Reach Settlement

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Reuters
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and an international peace conference to work out a lasting political solution leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In an interview with Reuters at his office in Ramallah, Abbas, 87, said the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in general had reached an alarming stage that requires an international conference and guarantees by world powers.

Besides Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, he said Israeli forces have intensified their attacks everywhere in the occupied West Bank over the past year with settlers escalating violence against Palestinian towns.

He reiterated his longstanding position in favor of negotiation rather than armed resistance to end the longstanding occupation.

"I am with peaceful resistance. I am for negotiations based on an international peace conference and under international auspices that would lead to a solution that will be protected by world powers to establish a sovereign Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem," he said.

Abbas was speaking as Israel increased its strikes on Gaza. In two months of warfare, it has killed more than 17,000 people, wounded 46,000 and forced the displacement of around 1.9 million people, over half of them now sheltering in areas in central Gaza or close to the Egyptian border.

Abbas said that based on a binding international agreement, he would revive the weakened Palestinian Authority, implement long-awaited reforms and hold presidential and parliamentary elections, which were suspended after Hamas won in 2006 and later pushed the PA out of Gaza.

He said the PA had abided by all the peace deals signed with Israel since the 1993 Oslo Accord and the understandings that followed over the years but that Israel had reneged on its pledges to end the occupation.

Asked whether he would risk holding elections given the possibility that Hamas could win as it did in 2006, he said: "Whoever wins wins, these will be democratic elections."

Abbas said he had planned to hold elections in April 2021 but the European Union envoy told him before the due date that Israel was objecting to voting in East Jerusalem so he was forced to call it off.

He insisted that there would not be elections without East Jerusalem, saying the PA held three rounds of elections in the past that included East Jerusalem before Israel imposed the ban.



Israel Intercepts Missile from Yemen, Military Says

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)
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Israel Intercepts Missile from Yemen, Military Says

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile as others wave the flags of Palestine (R) and Yemen (L) during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 March 2025 against US airstrikes on Houthi positions. (EPA)

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had intercepted a projectile launched from Yemen that crossed into Israeli territory.

Sirens had earlier sounded in several areas of Israel.

The Iran-backed Houthi group has repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what it has described as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The firing of the projectile came after Israel resumed airstrikes against targets in Gaza that killed more than 400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, in an onslaught that ended weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled.