Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on preventing the war in Israel and Gaza from spreading further in the region, Dutch press agency ANP reported on Monday.
Rutte also spoke of the importance of the prospect of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel, calling the two-state solution "the only way to bring stability to the entire region," ANP said.
Rutte's visit followed confirmation by the Dutch foreign ministry on Sunday of the death of a 33-year-old Dutch woman who had traveled to Gaza to visit family shortly before Palestinian terrorists of Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7
Rutte has previously called for "humanitarian pauses" in the fighting in order to help aid reach the civilian residents of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has bombed in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack.