Gaza needs political solution, not military one, Abbas tells UK's Cameron

By Abdul Jabbar Aburas

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - There is no security or military solution for the Gaza Strip, only a political one, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told British Foreign Secretary David Cameron late Wednesday.

Cameron arrived in Israel Tuesday on a regional tour of the occupied Palestinian territories, Qatar, and Türkiye to hold talks with leaders on an urgent humanitarian pause and secure a deal to release the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Meeting with Cameron in Ramallah, the West Bank, Abbas called for an urgent cessation of Israeli aggression against the people of Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, according to Palestine's official news agency Wafa.

He also stressed the need to expedite the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave, the agency said.

Abbas urged a halt to Israeli occupation assaults and violence by terrorist settlers in the West Bank, reiterating his rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Jerusalem, Wafa added.

He underscored the need for Israel to cease their oppressive practices, ethnic cleansing, and undermining of any possible two-state solution, the agency said.

Security and peace are achieved by steering toward a political solution in line with a two-state solution, according to Abbas.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, so far killing at least 25,700 Palestinians and injuring 63,740 others. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio​​​​​​​