RABAT, May 12. /TASS/. The US is the only side capable of forcing Israel to stop the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh told the Al Arabiya TV channel.
"The US is the only side capable of forcing Israel to stop the war in the Gaza Strip," he said, while expressing hope that Hamas would also take action that would lead to stopping the war.
"Hamas is part of the people and cannot be eliminated from the political life [but] Hamas has to change its policies to become part of our political system," Sheikh went on.
He said that the Palestinian Authority "is in contact with Hamas… and "we are currently having a dialogue with the movement."
"The best path to achieving a Palestinian state is through peaceful resistance, not armed struggle. We are negotiating with Israel to achieve our rights and create our own state. Our priority is to secure the Palestinian people on their land," the Vice President stressed.
"We will not accept any alternative to the Palestinian Authority’s rule in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Since March 2, 2025, humanitarian aid has not been delivered to the Gaza Strip, and all checkpoints remain closed by decision of Israel.
On March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in the Gaza Strip and delivered a series of strikes on Hamas targets, thus cutting short the ceasefire that had been in place in the enclave since January 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the move by Hamas' rejections of proposals advanced after talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff. It claimed that the goal of the operation was to release all of the Israeli hostages. Hamas placed responsibility for this latest spiral of escalation in Gaza on Israel and the United States.