UN rights chief hails chance to stop Gaza carnage ‘once and for all’

GENEVA: UN rights chief Volker Turk on Saturday said US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan was a “vital opportunity” to stop bloodshed in the Palestinian territory “once and for all”.

Trump has called on key US ally Israel to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip as the Palestinian group Hamas said it was ready to release all hostages and start talks surrounding the plan to end the nearly two-year war.

Turk hopes the momentum from the US president’s peace plan will “pave the way for a permanent cessation of hostilities, followed by recovery and reconstruction,” his office said on X as it urged a resolution “in line with international human rights and humanitarian laws, and the much needed two-state solution”.

Gazans hail Trump ceasefire call as Hamas agrees to free hostages

He called the plan a “vital opportunity for all parties and influential states to pursue in good faith and stop – once and for all – the carnage and the suffering in Gaza, to flood the strip with humanitarian aid, and to ensure the release of the hostages and numerous detained Palestinians.”

The proposal details a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas.

The World Health Organization also welcomed the plan, particularly the prospect of reconstructing hospitals.

“The best medicine is peace,” the UN health agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X on Saturday.

Hamas has indicated its readiness to release all hostages and enter talks to negotiate peace after almost two years of war.

Israel said Saturday its troops were still operating in Gaza City and warned residents not to return, despite calls from the families of Israeli hostages and Trump for an immediate halt to the fighting.