Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas is calling for an absolute end to what he defines as "aggression against the Palestinian people".
In an interview with Egyptian television, Abbas praised Cairo's position of supporting the Palestinian Arabs and noted that he is holding talks with the Egyptian leadership in an effort to bring about an end to the war.
"The Palestinian Authority is ready to bear its responsibility in the Gaza Strip as one Palestinian state, noting that five ministers serve on its behalf in the local government in the Gaza Strip and three of them live there," he added.
Abbas described the situation in the Gaza Strip as "more than a disaster and more than a war of extermination", stressing that "the Palestinians have not experienced anything similar, not even in the Nakba of 1948."
A visitor to the Gaza Strip will not be able to recognize it in light of the enormous destruction, and it needs tens of billions of dollars to become habitable again, he claimed.
"Israel says that it is defending itself and this statement is invalid and does not make sense and the intellect does not accept it," Abbas said.
He claimed that "Israel wants to expel the Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank as it did in 1948 and is striving to eliminate Palestinian existence."
In the diplomatic context, Abbas said that "the Palestinians are ready at any time to hold an international conference to examine the situation on the basis of the international legitimacy embodied in the establishment of a Palestinian state that will include Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem."