Saudi not to normalise relations with Israel
Istanbul, Turkey - Saudi Arabia will not normalise relations with Israel unless the Palestinian issue is resolved, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-saud told US news outlet CNN in an interview that was broadcast on Sunday.
Responding to a question about whether there could be no normal ties without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state, Prince Faisal told CNN: “That’s the only way we’re going to get the benefit.”
“So, yes, because we need stability, and stability will only come through resolving the Palestinian issue.”
On Wednesday, Prince Faisal told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that Israel cannot enjoy peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state, emphasising the need for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Prior to Israel’s destructive war on Gaza, Saudi Arabia was engaged in negotiations for a potential normalisation of relations with Israel, mediated by the US. But analysts believe the war led to the postponement of talks between the two parties.
Toll rises to 25,295
At least 190 people have been killed and 340 others injured in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, bringing the total Palestinian death toll from Israel’s deadly assault on the besieged enclave since October 7 to 25,295, the Health Ministry in the territory said on Monday.
A ministry statement said 63,000 others have been injured in the offensive during the same period.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Israel has pounded the Gaza
Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
According to the UN, around 85 per cent of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.
RCS loses contact with team
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Monday that it has lost contact with its teams in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, due to the ground invasion by Israeli tanks in the area.
“Israeli tanks near PRCS AlAmal Hospital, and we have completely lost contact with our teams due to the ground invasion,” it said on X.
Prior to Israel’s war on Gaza, Saudi Arabia was engaged in negotiations for normalisation of relations with Israel, mediated by the US. But analysts believe the war led to the postponement of talks
Al-qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said they targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with a locally made Yassin 105 shell west of Khan Younis.
The Israeli army carried out early morning intense airstrikes and shelling in the city near Nasser Hospital, an Anadolu correspondent reported.