NEW YORK, MAY 21 (DNA) – Pakistan has welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, hoping it may lead to peace in Palestine.

“This is the power of collective, unified action. This is the effort of every person and every nation, together for a just cause,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote on the Twitter. “May this ceasefire be the first step towards peace in Palestine,” he added.

The ceasefire announcement came after 11 days of deadly Israeli airstrikes that drew retaliatory rockets fired by Hamas fighters towards Israel. More than 240 people were killed and thousands more injured in the fighting, the majority in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Israel’s occupation of Palestine must end, and illegal settlements and apartheid like regime imposed in the occupied territories must be dismantled,” the foreign minister said. “Implementation of UN resolutions for (the) establishment of independent and contiguous Palestinian State with Al-Quds Al Sharif as its capital, imperative,” Qureshi said. Qureshi is on a Palestine Peace Mission on the special instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Earlier, in his speech to the UN General Assembly, Qureshi has called for an immediate halt to Israeli aggression against Gaza.