GENEVA: UN rights chief Volker Turk on Saturday said US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan was a “vital opportunity” to stop bloodshed in the Palestinian territory, once and for all.”
Trump has called on Israel to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip as Hamas said it was ready to release all hostages and start talks surrounding the plan to end the nearly two-year war.
Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. (AFP)
Turk hopes the momentum from the US president’s peace plan will “pave the way for a permanent cessation of hostilities, followed by recovery and reconstruction,” his office said on X as it urged a resolution “in line with international human rights and humanitarian laws, and the much-needed two-state solution.”
He called the plan a “vital opportunity for all parties and influential states to pursue in good faith and stop — once and for all — the carnage and the suffering in Gaza, to flood the strip with humanitarian aid, and to ensure the release of the hostages and numerous detained Palestinians.”
The proposal details a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas.
The World Health Organization also welcomed the plan, particularly the prospect of reconstructing hospitals.
“The best medicine is peace,” the UN health agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X on Saturday.
Israel said Saturday its troops were still operating in Gaza City and warned residents not to return, despite calls from the families of Israeli hostages and Trump for an immediate halt to the fighting.
President Trump said that Hamas must move quickly on his plan for ending the war in Gaza, “or else all bets will be off.”
“I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST,” the president said in a post on Truth Social.
Israel’s army said Saturday that it would advance preparations for the first phase of Trump’s plan.
