Palestinian president demands Israel ‘rapidly and completely’ pull out from Gaza

Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that Israel must “rapidly and completely” withdraw from the Gaza Strip and cease all unilateral actions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.

The remarks were made when Abbas spoke with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on the telephone, focusing on the Palestinian issue.

Abbas stressed the importance of the Palestinian state assuming its responsibilities in Gaza, similar to the West Bank and highlighted the necessity of establishing a mechanism for humanitarian and medical aid entry into Gaza.

He also emphasized the prevention of forced displacement of Palestinians and the need for the state to attain full membership status at the UN.

Radev expressed hope for an end to the conflict in Gaza, and voiced his desire for Palestinians to achieve independence and obtain all of their national rights.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people, and resulted in about 250 more being taken back to the coastal enclave as hostages.

Nearly 32,500 Palestinians have since been killed and 74,900 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza on Thursday. It warned that “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine … but that famine is setting in.”

Anadolu