President Abbas discusses with the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration of southern Cyprus the situation in Gaza and Israeli violations in the West Bank

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas discussed on Sunday with the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration of southern Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, the situation in the Gaza Strip and Israeli violations in the West Bank.

This came during a phone call from Christodoulides to Abbas, according to the Palestinian News Agency.

The agency reported that during the call, they discussed "the latest political developments and updates on the situation in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and ways to achieve peace in accordance with international legitimacy."

Abbas pointed to Palestine's commitment to US President Donald Trump's plan, "and the importance of starting the implementation of the second phase of the plan as agreed upon by Hamas and Israel, which involves Hamas handing over its weapons and relinquishing governance in the Gaza Strip, the complete withdrawal of occupation forces from the sector, establishing a ceasefire, introducing humanitarian aid and shelter materials, and proceeding to reconstruction."

On September 29 last year, Trump announced a peace plan and ceasefire for Gaza consisting of 20 points, including: the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza, a ceasefire, disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from the sector, forming a technocratic government, and deploying an international stabilization force.

Abbas emphasized the necessity of "stopping Israeli violations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, especially halting settlement expansion and settler terrorism, and releasing the detained Palestinian funds."

The detained funds or "clearance revenues" are taxes imposed on goods imported to the Palestinian side, whether from Israel or through border crossings controlled by Tel Aviv, which the latter collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

However, starting from 2019, Israel decided to deduct amounts from them under various pretexts, then Tel Aviv stopped transferring any part of them about eight months ago.

The President of Palestine renewed his country's readiness "to assume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip immediately" and "the readiness to work with President Trump and mediators and partners to implement the two-state solution in accordance with international legitimacy and for the Palestinian people to achieve their freedom and independence, so that the State of Palestine lives alongside the State of Israel in security, peace, and good neighborliness."

On October 10 last year, a ceasefire agreement in Gaza entered into force through Egyptian, Qatari, American, and Turkish mediation, amid ongoing Israeli breaches and its obstruction of the transition to the second phase of the agreement concerning security and administrative arrangements in the sector and Israeli withdrawals.

Over two years since October 8, 2023, Israel's genocide war, which lasted two years, has left more than 71,000 Palestinian dead and over 171,000 injured, mostly children and women, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at about $70 billion.

Alongside the genocide war on Gaza, the Israeli army and settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, resulting in the killing of more than 1,102 Palestinians, injuring about 11,000, in addition to arresting more than 21,000.