Bahrain, USA, EU discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip

2023-11-18 16:26:54, Kosova & Bota CNA

Brett McGurk, the Middle East coordinator at the White House National Security Council, said Saturday in Bahrain that the release of a large number of Israeli hostages would also allow for increased aid to Palestinian civilians due to longer pauses in the fighting. between Israel and Hamas. Mr. McGurk made these comments within what is known as the Manama Dialogue organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Speaking in Bahrain on Saturday, Brett McGurk, the White House National Security Council's Middle East coordinator, said that "the release of a large number of Israeli hostages would result in a significant pause in the fighting and a massive escalation of humanitarian aid".

"There is no going back to the time before the attack by Hamas. This is true for Israel and the Palestinians. No country can live with threats of terror like what we saw from Hamas on October 7th. At the same time, Palestinians deserve and need security and self-determination," says Mr. McGurk.

Mr McGurk was speaking ahead of an international forum to discuss the most pressing foreign policy, defense and security challenges in the Middle East, which is being held in Bahrain.

The 19th meeting of what is known as the Manama Dialogue of the International Institute for Strategic Studies started on November 17 and ends on Sunday, November 19.

During his speech, the head of the EU's Foreign Policy Josep Borrell on the difficult humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"The suffering of the civilian population will increase if we are not able to stop such a thing. We are working on it. We have increased humanitarian aid and of course we need to do more. But there's no point in giving those people dinner today if they're going to be killed tomorrow," says Mr. Borrell.

The war began with a Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 in southern Israel. Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 240 others, men, women and children.

According to health authorities controlled by Hamas, about 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, two-thirds of them women and children, while another 2,700 have been reported missing.

The data provided by the militant group have not been independently confirmed and in their figures, no distinction is made between civilians and militants killed. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants./ VOA