Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction, on Wednesday to finalize a prisoner swap deal with Israel soon, as he warned of a looming Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip that could cause more humanitarian disasters.
Abbas said the deal was needed to "prevent the Israeli aggression on Rafah, which will result in thousands of casualties, suffering and displacement for our people," the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
He appealed to the United States and Arab countries to help expedite the deal and spare the Palestinians from "the scourge of this destructive war."
"The Israeli war on Gaza Strip led to dozens of Palestinians killed every day, in addition to the storming of the West Bank and Jerusalem, therefore, we must bear our responsibilities in stopping this war on our people," he said.
Israel has been waging a massive campaign against Hamas in Gaza, killing more than 28,000 people, in response to a Hamas cross-border raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 Israelis and abducted more than 200.
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