By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – Greece on Monday supported US President Joe Biden’s roadmap for a cease-fire in Gaza.
“Greece fully supports POTUS Biden roadmap for a ceasefire, release of all hostages, unhindered humanitarian access, withdrawal of IDF, and Gaza reconstruction,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said on X, adding: “The humanitarian tragedy must stop now.”
The ministry also stressed that the “international community’s efforts should focus on the prospect of an enduring peace in the Middle East.”
On Friday, Biden said Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in the Gaza Strip and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave.
Biden called on the Palestinian resistance group Hamas to accept the proposal and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resist pressure from members of his governing coalition to reject the plan.
However, Netanyahu's office reiterated on Friday that the government intends to continue its deadly offensive on Gaza until all of Tel Aviv's war "goals" are met.
Hamas, for its part, said it will "respond positively to any proposal that includes a permanent cease-fire, a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction efforts, the return of the displaced people, and the completion of a comprehensive hostage exchange deal."
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.