Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
talks on ending the war in Gaza are on the verge of reaching a ceasefire between hamas And israel, Türkiye Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.
Turkish, Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators are working to realize a US plan that calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
“If an agreement is reached today, a ceasefire will be declared,” Fidan told a news conference. ankara With Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani.
Fidan had earlier said that “considerable progress has been achieved so far” in the talks. “The good news is that the parties have shown great will to release prisoners and hostages,” he said.
All sides have expressed optimism for a deal to end a two-year war that has killed thousands of Palestinians and destroyed most of Gaza. But key parts of the peace plan have still not been agreed upon, including the need to disarm Hamas, the timing and extent of Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza and the creation of an international body to run the territory after Hamas withdraws.
Fidan told reporters that technical details were “being discussed at the moment,” adding that “if positive views are heard today, the necessary steps will be taken for the first part of the agreement.”
The two ministers also discussed security in Syria – an issue in which neighboring Turkey takes a keen interest.
Al-Shibani criticized the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, for delaying the implementation of an agreement signed in March to integrate into Syria’s new army. The SDF has recently clashed with security forces around the northern city of Aleppo.
“The SDF has been very slow to take appropriate action,” he said. “Any delay in implementing this agreement will only cause further damage and cause great harm to our fight against terrorism.”
Both al-Shibani and Fidan attacked Israel’s involvement in Syria, with the Syrian minister saying that Israel’s “aggression still threatens our safety and security.”
Tensions between Israel and Syria increased after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad in December, when Israeli forces took control of a UN-patrolled buffer zone established in Syria under a 1974 agreement and launched airstrikes. Al-Shibani on Wednesday reiterated Syrian calls to return to the 1974 borders.
Israel stepped up its intervention in July when violence erupted in Syria’s Sweda province between Bedouin tribes and government forces on one side, and armed groups from the Druze religious minority on the other.