Palestine has expressed strong opposition to Israel's participation in the Peace Council, Salah Abdel Shafi, the Palestinian Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Observer to international organizations in Vienna, told Izvestia.
"In our view, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal who should stand trial for the crimes committed, rather than serve as a member of the Peace Council," the diplomat stated.
Abdel Shafi further emphasized the catastrophic scale of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "Following the war of destruction that Gaza has endured, virtually nothing is left. Israel has decimated the infrastructure, the healthcare system, the education sector, and the schools. Today, the Gaza Strip needs absolutely everything," he noted.
According to the ambassador, the funds that Russia is prepared to allocate to the Peace Council could be used both to rebuild critical infrastructure and to address urgent humanitarian needs for the local population. "Russia’s readiness to provide up to $1 billion in aid to the Gaza Strip represents a qualitative shift to a new level of support. This initiative is fully in line with Russia’s traditional position of supporting the Palestinian people, and we highly value this noble step," Abdel Shafi told the publication.
On January 22, representatives from 19 countries signed the Charter of the Peace Council on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The body was established as part of a settlement framework for Gaza through an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas. While its immediate focus is the governance and reconstruction of the enclave, the Council is also intended to prevent and resolve conflicts in other global regions.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Vladimir Putin has received an invitation to join the Peace Council. The president has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review the proposal and consult with international partners. Putin stated that Russia is prepared to contribute $1 billion to the Council using Russian assets currently frozen in the United States. On February 18, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted in an interview with Al Arabiya that Moscow had sent a formal note to the US agreeing to use these funds for Gaza's reconstruction, but a response has yet to be received.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Based on materials from TASS