Palestine calls for international pressure on Israel to facilitate visit of Mahmoud Abbas to Gaza

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestine on Friday called for international pressure on Israel to help ensure President Mahmoud Abbas's planned visit to the Gaza Strip.

Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Palestinian Authority's minister of state for foreign affairs, told Anadolu that Palestine “is moving forward with plans for President Abbas's visit to the Gaza Strip.”

She urged for international pressure on Israel to make the visit possible, saying: “All countries aware of the visit should participate in its arrangements and exert pressure on the occupying state (Israel). We hope the visit will happen.”

Shahin said a Palestinian committee had been formed to facilitate and organize the visit to the enclave, where Israel has killed more than 40,000 people since a cross-border attack by Hamas last October.

Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, said Israel has yet to officially approve or reject the forthcoming visit.

“All we hear about rejection is from the Israeli media. We are working diligently to make the visit successful,” he told Anadolu.

Abu Yousef confirmed that several countries, including Arab, European, and African states, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, and the UN, have been contacted to exert pressure on Tel Aviv.

Last week, Israeli news site Walla, citing two unnamed sources, said Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh sent a message to Israeli National Security Council chairman Tzachi Hanegbi, requesting coordination for Abbas's visit to Gaza through Israeli territory (the northern border of the Strip), rather than via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The site reported that the minister also sent a copy to the US administration, urging it to ask Israel to allow the visit.

“If Abbas receives a positive response and makes the visit, it would be a significant political victory over Hamas and would allow him to suggest the possibility of the Palestinian Authority returning to Gaza,” the news site said. Abbas last visited Gaza in 2006.

Last week, Abbas told Türkiye’s parliament he had decided to visit Gaza and Jerusalem to protest Israel's war on the enclave.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio