"Achieving a cease-fire in Gaza urgently needed"

"Since the number of victims has already exceeded 55,000, every new day brings reports about the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza. Children and vulnerable categories pay a particularly high price," Pons said in a statement, and at the same time called for an urgent increase in efforts to reach a ceasefire that would bring an end to suffering and begin the restoration of security in the wider region.

As it is added, the chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly visited Israel and the occupied West Bank earlier this year, together with a high delegation of parliamentarians, for meetings whose focus was on ensuring the safe and stable life of people in the region.

The OSCE statement also said Pons welcomed reports over the weekend that the Israeli government had voted to expand the distribution of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.

• This is a massacre: 100,000 dead?
• A 230 kg bomb was dropped; That's a war crime?

"Humanitarian agencies also report a massive need for aid, but report that they are too often limited in their access. Aid must be allowed to go to Gaza immediately," the OSCE official pointed out.

He reminded that humanitarian aid is guaranteed and that all parties should respect the Geneva Convention of 1949. At the same time, Pons repeated the unanimous appeal of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE organization adopted in the recent Porto Declaration, which calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining Hamas hostages, and at the same time condemns the terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023.

He also reiterated that by the resolution adopted in Porto, "all OSCE member states, which have not yet done so, are invited to consider the formal recognition of the State of Palestine within its 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the common capital, which would be an essential contribution to the achievement of lasting peace between Israelis and Palestine".

Pons pointed out that both Israelis and Palestinians must intensify long-term efforts towards coexistence.

"There is a desire for peace and normal life among the peoples in the region, and I call on the leaders to do everything they can to stop the cycle of violence," the OSCE official concluded in a statement.