Egyptian President calls for "recognition of the State of Palestine"

CAIRO, Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said on Friday that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was "an idea on its last legs", urging the international community to recognize a "State of Palestine" instead.

The Egyptian head of state, who was receiving the Spanish and Belgian prime ministers in Cairo, felt that reviving the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians "is perhaps not what is needed" in the immediate future.

"The results of this faltering path over the last 30 years tell us that we need" to adopt a different approach, he declared at a joint press conference, recalling that the Gaza Strip has been bloodied in recent decades by successive conflicts.

This would involve "recognition of the State of Palestine by the international community and its integration into the United Nations... This would be a sign of seriousness", asserted Mr. Sissi, a few hours after the entry into force of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The truce, negotiated with the help of Qatar, the United States and Egypt, is to be accompanied by the release in the afternoon of a dozen hostages held in the Gaza Strip, against around 40 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Twelve Thai hostages, who were not included in the exchange agreement, were also released by Hamas on Friday, announced the Thai Prime Minister.

The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7. 

In retaliation, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which the Israeli government has vowed to "annihilate".

According to the Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 240 abducted on October 7, the day of the Hamas attack of a scale and violence never before seen in Israel's history.

In retaliation, Israel relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip, where 14,854 people, including 6,150 children, were killed, according to the Hamas government.