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Manila Bulletin devider World devider UN welcomes Israel-Hamas deal as 'important step'

UN welcomes Israel-Hamas deal as 'important step'

Published Nov 22, 2023 02:45 pm

GENEVA, Switzerland - The United Nations on Wednesday welcomed the deal between Israel and Hamas to free hostages and pause the fighting and bombardment in Gaza, but said much more needed to be done.

Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday allowing hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed while offering besieged Gaza residents a four-day truce after weeks of all-out war.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "welcomes the agreement reached by Israel and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar supported by Egypt and the United States," a spokesman for the UN chief said in a statement.

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A sign illuminates a square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, on November 21, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian armed group. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on November 21 that accepting a deal for the release of hostages taken in the Hamas attacks of October 7 was "a difficult decision but it's a right decision." (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

"This is an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done."

Guterres said the UN would provide support for the implementation of the agreement.

In the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the bloodiest-ever Gaza war, Palestinian militants are set to release 50 women and children kidnapped during their deadly October 7 raids into southern Israel.

The World Health Organization also welcomed the deal, but the UN health agency's chief said it would not end civilian suffering.

"We welcome the announcement of the Israel-Hamas agreement for 50 Israeli hostages to be released," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, formerly Twitter.

"My thoughts are with the families, some of whom my WHO colleagues and I met with in recent weeks. We also welcome the four-day pause in fighting that will allow more aid to be safely delivered into Gaza."

But he added that "this is not enough to end the suffering of civilians" and "that those still in captivity must receive any needed medical care".

"We continue to call for all hostages to be released. We also continue to call for a ceasefire so that civilians in Gaza can receive sustained, safe and scaled-up support for recovery."

The war started after Hamas gunmen on October 7 launched the worst attack in Israel's history that left around 1,200 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli government.

Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups also took an estimated 240 Israelis and foreigners hostage, among them elderly people and young children.

Israel declared war on Hamas, vowing to bring the hostages home and to destroy the militant group.

It launched a major bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, which, according to the Hamas government, has killed 14,100 people, thousands of them children.

 

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