Iran: Political initiatives underway for immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Iran and Qatar are working on political initiatives on establishment of an immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza as the Israeli genocidal war in claiming more civilian lives.

Amir-Abdollahian said his earlier visit to the Qatari capital Doha featured discussion about the truce in the Israeli regime’s war.

The top Iranian diplomat made the remarks upon return to Tehran from a two-way trip that took him to Qatar and Turkey.

“There is talk in Qatar about the idea of truce that could [possibly] lead to extensive transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

The brutal war that the Israeli regime has been waging against the coastal territory has so far claimed the lives of nearly 8,800 people, including more than 3,600 children.

The regime launched the war after Gaza’s resistance groups conducted Operation al-Aqsa Storm, their biggest operation against the occupying entity, after years of suffering under Israeli repression of occupation.

“Under the aegis of the truce, we will witness exchange of civilian prisoners between the two sides, which includes the release of all female Palestinians prisoners,” the Iranian foreign minister said.

The Palestinian resistance, he added, is after the freedom of Palestinian women, adolescents, and children from Israeli prisoners.

Amir-Abdollahian said during his meeting with head of Hamas’ Politburo, in Doha, Ismail Haniyeh said the Israeli regime’s attacks on Gaza had so far resulted in the deaths of some 50 captives held by the Palestinian resistance.

“Some of these captives were being held in the basement of hospitals that were thought to be safe,” Amir-Abdollahian noted.

Some of the victims perished during Israeli airstrikes against the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on October 17 that claimed the lives of at least 500 civilians, he said.