MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan is the “best thing to end bloodshed” and allow humanitarian aid and relief to enter Gaza, but lasting peace is doubtful without Palestinian statehood, Russia’s foreign minister told a press conference on Monday.
“We welcome the prospect, but we have a certain amount of skepticism,” Sergei Lavrov said, adding: “I have no clue how they (Gazans) will be able to live there right now.”
According to estimates, more than 80 percent of Gaza has been reduced to rubble in the two-year Israeli onslaught.
Lavrov said that focusing on reconstruction is better than continuing to allow Gazans to live under constant Israeli shelling. Russia is ready to take part in the reconstruction process “in any format,” he added.
The foreign minister highlighted that Trump’s plan only mentions ending the violence in the Gaza Strip but does not talk about the ways to ensure Palestinian prosperity in the West Bank and how to force Israel to accept 1967 borders.
