NATO wants longer pause in Gaza fighting, stresses need for lasting political solution

Stoltenberg addressing the conference in Brussels

BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called for prolonging the pause in the fighting in Gaza and stressed the need for a lasting political solution.

“I call for an extension of the pause. This would allow for much-needed relief to the people of Gaza and the release of more hostages,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference.

“The suffering we have seen underlines the need for a lasting political solution.”

Stoltenberg said they were “extremely concerned” and welcomed the fact that King Abdullah of Jordan visited NATO a couple of weeks ago and gave a briefing to all the allies.

“I had a bilateral meeting with him and of course, his assessments and his analysis are of great value for NATO and it demonstrates also that Jordan is a close partner, a highly valued partner of NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

“We have partners in the region… In this critical situation, we consult, we work with, and we listen to our partners in in the region. So, we welcome the pause in the fighting and this has enabled the release of hostages and enabled the delivery of support, humanitarian support to the people of Gaza.”

Stoltenberg addressing the conference in Brussels

Stoltenberg stressed that NATO as an Alliance has never played an active role in the Israel/Palestine conflict.

“We have a presence in the wider region with our training mission in Iraq to fight ISIS (Daesh) with our close cooperation with Jordan. We also do some defense capacity building efforts. And of course, we are concerned about the potential escalation of the conflict.”