“We have been and continue to be responsible for Gaza, and we will remain so,” he adds in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
Commenting on reports that the US administration may be close to a plan to establish a Palestinian state, Abbas says: “We’ve had several meetings with top US officials, including [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, [National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan and [CIA Director William] Burns, and they’ve assured us of their commitment to the two-state solution and supporting peace efforts based on international law.”
Abbas claims, however, that US support for Israel hinders tangible progress towards the establishment of a Palestinian state. “What matters most is action on the ground, not just words,” he says.
In response to US pressures to “revitalize” the PA through structural reforms, including the transfer of presidential functions to the prime minister and the reduction of Abbas’s role to a ceremonial one, the leader responds that the Palestinian people are independent in their decision-making.
Abbas laments the absence of an “Israeli partner” for peace, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became a “hindrance” to the peace process.
In Abbas’s words, a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza along the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital should first obtain full UN membership through a Security Council resolution, followed by an international peace conference with guarantees and a clear timeline.
According to a Washington Post report citing US and Arab officials, the US could announce a blueprint for a recognition of the State of Palestine with a firm timeline in the next few weeks, though the timing is largely dependent on a deal to pause fighting in Gaza.
Projectile from Lebanon explodes in Kiryat Shmona; sirens sound in northern city
A projectile from Lebanon exploded in the northern town of Kiryat Shmona.
There are no immediate reports of injuries.
A building in the city sustained some damage but the extent is still under review.
Sirens sounded in the city shortly after the reports of the rocket strike.
Hezbollah names two more members killed in Israeli strikes
The Hezbollah terror group names another two members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.
Their deaths bring the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 201.
The announcement comes following several IDF strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, in response to attacks on northern Israel.
IDF kills Hamas commander who took part in Oct. 7 attack, guarded hostage who was later killed
CIA director makes unannounced visit to Israel for meeting with Netanyahu
CIA Director Willian Burns is in Israel ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Ynet report earlier
Netanyahu refused to send a delegation to Cairo today to meet with Burns and senior officials from Egypt in Qatar in an attempt to craft a hostage deal with Hamas.
The Israeli official declines to comment on who else will be joining the meeting on the Israeli side.
IDF airs new footage of operations in Khan Younis, says troops killed or detained dozens of operatives
‘Not the time’ for ‘gifts’ to Palestinians, says government spokesperson amid reports of plan for statehood\
“Here in Israel, we are still in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre,” says Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Avi Hyman in a briefing.
“Now is not the time to be speaking about gifts for the Palestinian people, at a time when the Palestinian Authority themselves have yet to even condemn the October 7 massacre,” he continues.
Erdan slams UN as ‘terror-excusing, Hamas-promoting’ organization
Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan is the latest official to blast UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths for saying that Hamas “is not a terrorist group,” calling the international body “a terror-excusing, Hamas-promoting, victim-blaming organization.”
“The UN’s pro-Hamas stance is finally exposed on live TV,” says Erdan on X.
“Is the brutal murder of hundreds of civilians, not terror?” Erdan asks. “Is the systematic rape of women not terror? Is attempting Jewish genocide not terror?”
IDF confirms senior Hezbollah commander and deputy killed in south Lebanon strike last night
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