DUBAI, October 9. /TASS/. Israel is unwilling to stop hostilities in the Gaza Strip and is not interested in achieving a peace treaty with Palestine, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine Varsen Aghabekian said.

"There's no peace partner on the Israeli side. And there's absolutely no willingness for peace, not from the right, not from the middle, not from the left," she told the UAE edition of The National.

The minister also accused the Israeli authorities of promising "nothing but pessimism and chaos" and offering no "glimpse of hope" for a peace deal. "The only moment when the war will be resolved will come after the international community says enough is enough, and Israel is not treated as a state above the law," Aghabekian believes.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants infiltrated the Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking hostages. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria, before launching a ground operation in the enclave.