Saudi Arabia says permanent Gaza ceasefire is current priority

DUBAI: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said on Friday that the kingdom’s current priority is reaching a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, when asked about the possibility of normalising ties with Israel.

He was speaking during a visit to Moscow.

In 2024, the Saudi foreign minister said that there could be no normalisation of ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue.

“What we are seeing is the Israelis are crushing Gaza, the civilian population of Gaza,” Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said. “This is completely unnecessary, completely unacceptable and has to stop.”

The local health ministry in Gaza says more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the region since an October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

According to Israel, 1,200 people were killed in that attack and more than 250 taken hostage into Gaza.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours whether the Palestinian militant group Hamas has agreed to accept what he has called a “final proposal” for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza.

ABRAHAM ACCORDS

The US president also said he had spoken to Saudi Arabia about expanding the Abraham Accords, the deal on normalization of ties that his administration negotiated between Israel and some Gulf countries during his first term.

Trump made the comments on the Abraham Accords when asked about U.S. media reporting late on Thursday that he had met Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman at the White House.

“It’s one of the things we talked about,” Trump said. “I think a lot of people are going to be joining the Abraham Accords,” he added, citing the predicted expansion to the damage faced by Iran from recent US and Israeli strikes.