PARIS: World figures hailed the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, urging them to stick to it and hurry aid to Gaza civilians.
Here is a roundup of reactions from official statements, broadcast remarks and online messages.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was “imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent life-saving humanitarian support.”
US President Joe Biden said he was “thrilled” that hostages would be freed and “confident” the deal would hold. “I’m deeply satisfied this day has... finally come,” he said in a televised statement.
Incoming US president Donald Trump vowed to “work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven.”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said “both parties must fully implement this agreement, as a stepping stone toward lasting stability in the region.”
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoped the agreement “will be beneficial for our region and for all humanity, particularly for our Palestinian brothers, and that it will open the way to lasting peace and stability.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry stressed “the need to adhere to the agreement and stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza,” calling for “the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the (Gaza) Strip and all other Palestinian and Arab territories and the return of the displaced to their areas.”
Brazil’s foreign ministry called on the parties to “respect the terms of the accord, to guarantee a permanent end to hostilities, the freeing of all hostages and the free entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesman said Beijing hoped “that relevant parties will take the ceasefire in Gaza as an opportunity to promote the easing of regional tensions.”
The president of neighboring Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, called for “the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza. He said the deal followed “strenuous efforts” by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called on world powers to ensure the “sufficient and durable” delivery of aid to Gaza.
Iraq’s foreign ministry stressed the “need to immediately allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories” and “intensify international efforts to rebuild” areas damaged during Israel’s Gaza offensive.
“Today, the world realized that the patience of the people of Gaza and the steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance forced the Zionist regime to retreat,” Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, adding that Israel was “defeated.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said the agreement must be “respected” and followed by a “political solution.”
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the deal “opens the door to a permanent end to the war and to the improvement of the poor humanitarian situation in Gaza” and must be “implemented to the letter.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “the long overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for.” He urged steps for a “permanently better future... grounded in a two-state solution.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country “expects that all the hostages can finally return to their families” and saw an “opportunity to significantly increase humanitarian assistance” to Gaza civilians. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called it an “important step toward peace.”
Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry said it hoped the truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire and allow an increase of aid to Gaza and reaffirmed its support for a “just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian question.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk said the deal promised “huge relief after so much unbearable pain and misery... and it is imperative that it now holds.” The chief of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini called for “rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war.”
World leaders urge aid, war’s end after Gaza deal
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World leaders urge aid, war’s end after Gaza deal

- World leaders urged Israel and Hamas to stick to deal and facilitate urgent aid to Gaza civilians
’Hell worse than what we have already?’ Gazans reject Trump plans

- Under Trump’s scheme, Gaza’s about 2.2 million Palestinians would be resettled and the United States would take control and ownership of the coastal territory, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”
- Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza — which they want to be part of an independent state also encompassing the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital — has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations
CAIRO/RAMALLAH/GAZA: With his Gaza home destroyed in Israel’s military offensive, Shaban Shaqaleh had intended to take his family on a break to Egypt once the Hamas-Israel ceasefire was firmly in place.
He changed his mind after US President Donald Trump announced plans to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian residents and redevelop the enclave, and said they should not have the right to return.
The Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, where dozens of multi-story buildings once stood, is now largely deserted. There is no running water or electricity and, like most buildings there, Shaqaleh’s home is in ruins.
“We are horrified by the destruction, the repeated displacement and the death, and I wanted to leave so I can secure a safe and better future for my children — until Trump said what he said,” Shaqaleh, 47, told Reuters via a chat app.
“After Trump’s remarks I canceled the idea. I fear leaving and never being able to come back. This is my homeland.”
Palestinians fear that Trump’s plan would enforce another Nakba, or Catastrophe, when they experienced mass expulsions in 1948 with the creation of Israel.
Under Trump’s scheme, Gaza’s about 2.2 million Palestinians would be resettled and the United States would take control and ownership of the coastal territory, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
“The idea of selling my home or the piece of land I own to foreign companies to leave the homeland and never come back is completely rejected. I am deeply rooted in the soil of my homeland and will always be,” Shaqaleh said.
Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza — which they want to be part of an independent state also encompassing the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital — has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations. Neighbouring Arab states have rejected it since the Gaza war began in 2023.
SATURDAY DEADLINE
After Hamas said on Monday it was suspending the release of Israeli hostages set out in the ceasefire deal due to alleged Israeli violations, Trump said the Palestinian militant group should release all those it still holds by noon on Saturday or he would propose canceling the truce and “let hell break out.”
“Hell worse than what we have already? Hell worse than killing?” said Jomaa Abu Kosh, a Palestinian from Rafah in southern Gaza, standing beside devastated homes.
One woman, Samira Al-Sabea, accused Israel of blocking aid deliveries, a charge denied by Israel.
“We are humiliated, street dogs are living a better life than us,” she said. “And Trump wants to make Gaza hell? This will never happen.”
Israel began its assault on Gaza after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people while some 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The operation has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, by Gaza authorities’ counts, and obliterated much of the enclave.
Some Gazans said Palestinian leaders must find a solution to their problems.
“We don’t want to leave our country but also need a solution. Our leaders — Hamas, the PA (Palestinian Authority) and other factions — must find a solution,” said a 40-year-old carpenter who gave his name as Jehad.
’DOES HE OWN GAZA?“
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians were also aghast at Trump’s words.
“Does he own Gaza to ask people to leave it?” said Nader Imam. “Regarding Trump I only blame the American people. How can a country like this, a superpower, accept a person like Trump? His statements are savage.”
“What will Trump do? There is no fear, we rely on God,” said another West Bank resident, Mohammed Salah Tamimi.
The proposal shattered decades of US peace efforts built around a two-state solution and added pressure on neighboring Egypt and Jordan to take in resettled Palestinians.
Both countries, who receive billions in aid from the United States, rejected the plan citing concerns for national security and their commitment to the two-state solution.
For Jordan, which borders the West Bank and has absorbed more Palestinians than any other state since Israel’s creation, the plan is a nightmare.
Trump said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refused to cooperate. Jordan’s King Abdullah is set to meet Trump in Washington on Tuesday and is expected to express his rejection of the plan.
“Jordan can never accept resolving this issue at its expense.” said Suleiman Saud, the chairman of the Palestine Committee in Jordan’s House of Representatives. “Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine is for Palestinians.”
Friends of Italian priest long missing in Syria hope for news

- Tens of thousands of people have been detained or gone missing in Syria during more than a decade of conflict, many disappearing into Assad’s jails
NABEK, Syria: In a centuries-old monastery on a rocky hill north of Damascus, friends of missing Italian priest Paolo Dall’Oglio carry on his legacy, hopeful Bashar Assad’s ouster might help reveal the Jesuit’s fate.
“We want to know if Father Paolo is alive or dead, who imprisoned him, and what was his fate,” said Father Jihad Youssef who heads Deir Mar Musa Al-Habashi, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Damascus.
For years, Dall’Oglio lived in Deir Mar Musa — the monastery of St. Moses the Ethiopian — which dates to around the 6th century. He is credited with helping restore the place of worship.
A fierce critic of Assad, whose 2011 repression of anti-government protests sparked war, he was exiled the following year for meeting with opposition members, returning secretly to opposition-controlled areas in 2013.
He disappeared that summer while heading to the Raqqa headquarters of a group that would later become known as the Daesh, to plead for the release of kidnapped activists.
Conflicting reports emerged on Dall’Oglio’s whereabouts, including that he was kidnapped by the extremists, killed or handed to the Syrian government.
Daesh’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019 brought no new information.
Tens of thousands of people have been detained or gone missing in Syria during more than a decade of conflict, many disappearing into Assad’s jails.
His December overthrow has enabled his friends at the monastery to openly discuss suspicions Dall’Oglio might have been “imprisoned by the regime,” Youssef said.
“We waited to see a sign of him... in Saydnaya prison or Palestine Branch,” Youssef said, referring to notorious detention facilities from which detainees were released after Assad’s toppling.
“We were told a lot of things, including that he was seen in the Adra prison in 2019,” Youssef said, referring to another facility outside Damascus, “but nothing reliable.”
Dall’Oglio, born in 1954, hosted interfaith seminars at Deir Mar Musa where Syria’s Christian minority and Muslims used to pray side by side, turning the monastery into a symbol of coexistence.
Youssef said it became a bridge for dialogue between Syrians in a country that “the former regime divided into sects who feared each other.”
Some 30,000 people visited in 2010, but the war and Dall’Oglio’s disappearance scared them away for more than a decade.
The monastery reopened for visitors in 2022.
“I didn’t know Father Paolo,” said Shatha Al-Barrah, 28, who came to Deir Mar Musa seeking solace and reflection.
But “I know he reflects this monastery, which opens its heart to all people from all faiths,” said the interpreter as she climbed the 300 steps leading to the building, built on the ruins of a Roman tower and partly carved into the rock.
Julian Zakka said Dall’Oglio was one of the reasons he joined the Jesuit order.
“Father Paolo used to work against associating Islam with extremists,” said the 28-year-old, “and to emphasize that coexistence is possible.”
After Islamist-led rebels ended half a century of one-family rule, the new authorities have sought to reassure minorities that they will be protected.
Assad had presented himself as a protector of minorities in multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Syria, but largely concentrated power in the hands of the Alawite community to whom his family belonged.
This month, Jesuits in Syria emphasized the need for healing, noting in a statement that fear had “shackled” the community for years.
Youssef said that while “the regime presented itself as protecting us, in fact it was using us as protection.”
He expressed optimism that “at last, the load has been lifted from our chests and we can breathe” after decades of “political death,” adding that he hoped the new authorities would be inclusive.
For now, Youssef is intent on spreading Dall’Oglio’s message.
“We will return to organizing activities like he loved to do,” Youssef said, including a march in Homs province, home to Alawites, Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
“The regime caused deep wounds between the Islamic sects” in Homs, he said.
“Father Paolo wanted to organize a large procession there — to pray at the mass graves, to be a bridge between people — to let them listen to each other’s pain, grieve and cry together, and stand hand in hand.”
Lebanon PM says ‘state must extend authority’ to all areas

- Nawaf Salam’s government faces the daunting task of overseeing the fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s prime minister said Tuesday the state must be in control of all Lebanese territory, in a televised interview days before a deadline to implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement.
Nawaf Salam’s government, which was officially formed on Saturday after more than two years of caretaker leadership, faces the daunting task of overseeing the fragile ceasefire and rebuilding a war-scarred country.
The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war.
“When it comes to the areas south of the Litani and north of the Litani, across the entire area of Lebanon... what should be implemented is.... the Lebanese state must extend its authority through its own forces across the (Lebanese) territory,” Salam told journalists in the interview aired on state television.
“We want the Israeli withdrawal to happen... and we will continue to mobilize all diplomatic and political efforts until this withdrawal is achieved,” he added.
Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which has been extended until February 18.
Hezbollah was also meant to leave its positions in the south, near the Israeli border, over that period.
Salam said that World Bank estimates had put the cost of reconstruction of war-hit areas of Lebanon “at between $8 and $9 billion, but today it has risen to between $10 and $11 billion.”
Israeli kibbutz says elderly hostage held in Gaza dead

- The kibbutz called on the Israeli government and world leaders “to continue acting with determination to bring back all the hostages, both the living and the dead, and not to allow painful stories like Shlomo’s to repeat themselves”
JERUSALEM: An elderly Israeli man taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, has been declared dead, a statement from his kibbutz said on Tuesday.
“With heavy hearts, we, the members of the kibbutz, received the news this morning about the murder of our dear friend, Shlomo Mansour, 86 years old, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim during the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023,” the community said of the Iraqi-born Israeli.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday that the “decision to confirm his death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that Mansour had been “murdered in captivity” by Hamas on October 7.
One of the founders of Kibbutz Kissufim, Mansour was kidnapped from a henhouse during Hamas’s attack on southern Israel.
His wife Mazal Mansour, with whom he lived for 60 years, managed to escape the attack. The couple have five children and 12 grandchildren.
The Israeli hostage forum said in a statement that Mansour, born in Baghdad, was a survivor of the Farhud pogrom — a 1941 attack on Iraq’s Jewish community — and immigrated to Israel with his family at 13.
“This is one of the most difficult days in the history of our kibbutz,” the community of Kissufim said in a statement.
“Shlomo was much more than a community member to us — he was a father, grandfather, a true friend and the beating heart of Kissufim.”
“Our hearts are broken that we couldn’t bring him back to us alive.”
The kibbutz called on the Israeli government and world leaders “to continue acting with determination to bring back all the hostages, both the living and the dead, and not to allow painful stories like Shlomo’s to repeat themselves.”
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he and his wife, Sara, “share in the family’s deep mourning.”
“We will not rest and will not be silent until he is returned to a burial in Israel. We will continue to act with determination and without pause until we return all of our hostages — both the living and the fallen,” he said.
A fragile ceasefire reached last month between Hamas and Israel appeared strained on Tuesday, a day after Hamas threatened to postpone the release of Israeli hostages scheduled for Saturday.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump warned that “all hell” would break loose if every Israeli hostage is not released from Gaza within the coming days, a threat Hamas said “further complicates matters.”
The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, which resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including 35 that Israeli officials say are dead.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the war has killed at least 48,208 people in the territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.
Turkmenistan reaches deal with Turkiye to ship natural gas via Iran

- Turkiye imports gas via pipelines from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan has struck a deal to ship natural gas to Turkiye via Iran, a government daily reported Tuesday.
The official daily Neutral Tyrkmenistan said that Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the chairman of the country’s People’s Council, welcomed the deal in a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Berdymukhamedov said it was a major development in the regional energy cooperation.
Gas supplies under the contract that was signed between the state-run Turkmengas company and Turkiye’s state-owned BOTAS will begin on March 1.
“With this agreement, which we have been working on for many years, we will strengthen the natural gas supply security of our country and our region, while furthering the strategic cooperation between the two countries,” Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in a statement.
Turkiye imports gas via pipelines from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran.
Last year, Turkmenistan signed a contract with Iran for 10 billion cubic meters (353 billion cubic feet) of natural gas to be shipped on to Iraq.
The ex-Soviet Central Asian country relies heavily on the export of its vast natural gas reserves. China is the nation’s main customer for gas and Turkmenistan also is working on a pipeline to supply gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.