Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdullah Shawesh, has canvassed the immediate end of the ongoing war between his country and Israel, noting: “no one is a winner, but everyone is a loser.”

During an interactive session with reporters in Abuja, yesterday, the envoy described the casualties recorded on both sides of the divide as unfortunate.

Advocating a two- state solution to the conflict, Shawesh submitted that the killing of three Israeli hostages attested to the catastrophic effect of the war on both parties.

He said the mere fact that Israel was yet to achieve the war objective of annihilating Hamas militants and setting free hostages meant the entire exercise was a futile one.

His words: “All of us are losers, no one is a winner. Unfortunately we lost our people in this war, but the “big loser is Israel, not the “big winner”. They declared two goals before going into the war – to eliminate the Palestinian fighters and the second one is to liberate the hostages.

“They did not succeed in the liberation of the hostages after 75 days of war. They did not succeed to free any single one. All the hostages so far released were through intervention of Qatar and all of us who got 105 of the hostages back to Israel.

“Just last Friday, three of the hostages succeeded in fleeing, but unfortunately and sadly, they killed them even while raising white flags and shouting in Hebrew. This means that is how they kill Palestinians too even if they waive the white flag.”

He maintained that the international community has made a mockery of the universal declaration of human rights, going by the alleged war crimes being perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people.

Expressing satisfaction with the role played by the media in drawing attention to the plight of his people, Shawesh harped on returning to the negotiation table, instead of resorting to military force.

The conflict began after Hamas broke through Israel’s heavily guarded perimeter on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 persons and taking 240 hostages – some of whom were released during a brief truce brokered by Qatar.

Nearly 20,000 people are now reported to have been killed, and more than 52,000 injured in Gaza since the start of the war. Besides, no fewer than 444 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives, according to the country’s military. About a quarter of those casualties have occurred since Israel started its ground invasion into the Gaza enclave.