Saudi foreign minister describes situation in Gaza as a ‘catastrophe’

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has described the situation in the Gaza Strip as a “catastrophe” at the World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Riyadh. Faisal Bin Farhan added that talking about half-measures in the Gaza Strip is “ridiculous,” and that the focus should be on the two-state solution.

The minister stressed that the Gaza Strip will take 30 years to be rebuilt after the Israeli war. A UN report, he pointed out, has indicated that it will take 14 years just to remove the rubble.

“The crisis is now in its seventh month,” said Bin Farhan, “and we are still in an unending discussion of whether or not enough [aid] trucks are getting into Gaza.” This, he insisted, is unacceptable. “The [Israeli] plans to expand military operations towards Rafah will only bring more suffering to the targeted and defenceless civilians in the Gaza Strip. The situation in Gaza obviously is a catastrophe by every measure.”

There has also been a complete failure of the existing political system to deal with that crisis, said the Saudi official. “The international security mechanisms have not worked even on something as basic as humanitarian access. We want a ceasefire and to deal with the consequences of the conflict.” It is, he added, in the interest of the Palestinians, the Israelis, the UN, the region and the international community to find a solution to the Palestinian issue, avoid the suffering that has occurred in Gaza, and not repeat this war, so that the bloodshed has not been for nothing.

“We in the region are not going to focus only on solving the crisis of the moment, we’re going to look at how we can solve the bigger problem in the context of Gaza. That is, a real commitment to a two-state solution; a credible, irreversible path to a Palestinian state. That’s the only reasonable and credible solution that guarantees us from not having to come back to this same situation two, three, four years down the line.”

He mocked the idea that the world can talk about half measures and discuss where the 2.5 million people of Gaza are going to go, without addressing how it is ensured that something like this doesn’t happen again. “I think that’s patently ridiculous.”

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Bin Farhan said that there must be a move from words to actions and that he would be discussing this with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He added that steps need to be taken on the ground and that the matter cannot be left to the conflicting parties. Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday, to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip with Saudi and Arab officials.

With more than 34,000 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza, at least 7,000 missing presumed dead under the rubble, and almost 80,000 wounded, as well as millions of residents displaced, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that an Israeli attack on Rafah would be the greatest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people. He expressed his fear that, after Gaza, Israel will turn to the occupied West Bank and displace its people across the border into Jordan.

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