According to a draft agreement, Israel must pause its military offensive in Gaza for two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 people held hostage, AP reports. There must also be letters stating that more humanitarian aid must be allowed into Gaza.
At the same time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is appealing today to donor countries, including Sweden, not to stop aid to the UN agency UNWRA following Israeli accusations that 11 people from their staff participated in the terrorist attack on October 7.
– Right now the money is needed in Gaza, so it is not possible to abolish all aid because then the situation will be much worse. Then it is important that UNWRA deal with this and do a proper investigation as they have said they should do as well, says the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister to TV4 Nyheterna.
Agreement between Israel and Hamas
He emphasizes that it would surprise him if an agreement does not emerge at the peace negotiations in Paris within the next two days. Negotiations which are very fragile according to Carl Bildt.
– In the Israeli government, there is also a growing disagreement about how to handle this. So that it is also a negotiation about the contemporaneity of the Israeli government really. Then there are probably also divided opinions within Hamas, he says.
Carl Bildt emphasizes that the American role is important and that sending the head of the CIA, the American intelligence service, to the meeting to conduct the negotiations sends signals.
Will we see a solution to the war between Israel and Hamas in the near future?
– Solution is a big word. No, so there is not yet on the horizon a solution for Gaza. There is also no readiness on the part of Israel to discuss any realistic solution, says Carl Bildt and continues:
– The Americans and the EU are now clearly saying that there must be a two-state solution. In this lies the fact that there must be some type of Palestinian government that takes over both Gaza and the West Bank. We must not forget that there is fighting going on in the West Bank.
Two state solution Israel and Palestine
He adds that a political horizon is required in the direction of a two-state solution, which Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has shown great resistance to.
– This in a way that is not acceptable. So there has to be political change both in Israel and on the Palestinian side for us to begin to see something that maybe hopefully leads to something that can avoid a repeat of this misery.