Top Brazilian diplomat urges Hamas to release hostages, Israel to withdraw troops
The Brazilian foreign minister pointed out that Israel must also withdraw from the occupied territories of Palestine and stop setting up its settlements there
UNITED NATIONS, October 25. /TASS/. Achieving peace in the Middle East is possible if the Palestinian movement Hamas releases all hostages and Israel withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territories, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said.
"Hamas must release Israeli children kidnapped from their families, and Israel must stop bombing so that Palestinian children and their mothers can leave Gaza through the border with Egypt. There must be a minimum of humanity in the madness of war," the top diplomat said at an open debate on the situation in the Middle East at the UN Security Council. "I would like to call for the immediate and unconditional safe release of all civilian hostages, especially women and children," he said.
The Brazilian foreign minister pointed out that Israel must also withdraw from the occupied territories of Palestine and stop setting up its settlements there. "The continued occupation of the West Bank is illegal and undermines the prospects for peace. Israel must cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. Current and planned expansion virtually eliminates the viability of a future Palestinian state and breeds violence and hatred," he added.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank of the Jordan River as well.