Saudi FM: Intl. Efforts Towards Gaza Ceasefire "Wholly Insufficient"

Wires carrying comments from Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, stating that the international efforts towards a Gaza ceasefire have been, “wholly insufficient.”

• Al-Saud says, “must have ceasefire in Gaza now… Do not need more conflict in our region, de-escalation must be everyone's priority.”
• The chances of a ceasefire appear remote in the short-term. Barak Ravid at Axios notes the current states of negotiations in a useful summary on X.
• According to Ravid, an Israeli official said: "The answer that Hamas gave had far-fetched elements. There is not even a single clause in which Hamas approves or accepts the position of the mediators .... The conclusion is that Hamas is dragging its feet, is not interested in a deal and a cease-fire and continues to hope for regional escalation."
• Market focus is on theIsraeli response to Iranand US-led measures against Iran which could elevate tensions with China. CNN notes that Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, "told his [Iranian] counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahia that Israel’s strike on Iran’s consulate building in Damascus, “seriously violates international law and is unacceptable,”" and notes that, "China did not condemn the weekend attack on Israel."
• US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to press her fellow finance ministers at the annual IMF spring meeting in Washington DC today to back new US sanctions on Iran. Yellen will say in her opening remarks: "Treasury will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime's malign and destabilizing activity…"