Palestine urges Washington to call on Netanyahu to stop war on Gaza

The Palestinian presidency on Wednesday urged the US administration to call on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately halt the devastating Israeli war on Gaza.

In a statement cited by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, presidential spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said: "It is high time for the US administration and Congress to tell Netanyahu that he must immediately stop the war, if there is a genuine American will to achieve peace and stability in the region, instead of allowing him to deceive the war-opposing world."

He added that the Israeli killing and destruction that extends from Gaza to the West Bank cities "will not bring security and peace to anyone."

"Without a comprehensive ceasefire in all Palestinian territories, any plan formulated for the day after the war would never see the light of day," the Palestinian official also said.

Netanyahu is set to address the US Congress on Wednesday, which is expected to draw crowds of protesters and face a boycott by several Democratic lawmakers.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 39,100 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.