Belgian premier says violence in Gaza should stop immediately to bring needed aid

The Belgian prime minister on Friday expressed concern over civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, reiterating his call for an immediate cease-fire.

"Our demand is an immediate cease-fire," Alexander De Croo said in response to Anadolu's question about the situation in the besieged enclave at the Munich Security Conference.

Citing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he noted that there has been too much violence and there has been too many innocent casualties of civilians.

"The only way to bring aid to people who are in dire need is to stop the violence, is to bring humanitarian assistance, but it's also to liberate the hostages, all the hostages," he stressed.

De Croo emphasized the importance of gathering at the table following the cessation of violence in order to finally build on the two-state solution, which he stressed is the "only way that you can respond to the demands on both sides, the demands of the inhabitants of Palestine and Gaza who want the perspective of a safe life, but also the demands of people from Israel (who) want guarantees on their own security."

Israel believes that 134 Israelis are still being held in Gaza after the Israeli army managed on Monday to free two hostages in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier, the Belgian premier called on Israel to "fully implement a ruling given by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israeli onslaught in the besieged Gaza Strip."

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. The ensuing Israeli attack has killed at least 28,663 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.