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Morocco stands behind the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas and appeals for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said after Thursday's meeting with his Czech counterpart, Jan Lipavský. Mr. Bourita said that Morocco will always be of the opinion that the armed conflict must end and that any solution is preferable to a military one, adding that the violence taking place "is completely unacceptable from the point of view of the international community and human reason". He also spoke about the necessity of humanitarian aid reaching civilians.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said that he reiterated Czechia's position during the meeting that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that Israel has Czechia's unequivocal support, but added that "we all must strive" to prevent the armed conflict from spreading further in the region. He said that humanitarian aid is also important to Czechia, but that it shouldn't be in a form that would prevent the defeat of Hamas, which he described as a "terrorist movement which has committed heinous crimes against innocent Israeli citizens".

However, the two foreign ministers found common ground in their shared understanding of the need to increase pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, Mr. Lipavský said.

It is clear who is the victim and who is the aggressor in the Israel-Hamas war, Prime Minister Petr Fiala told journalists at a press conference before departing for an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. He stated that he intends to lobby for Israel's right to self-defence to be confirmed in the European Council's conclusions.

When asked about a possible Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the prime minister reiterated that Israel had the right to defend itself by any means it deems appropriate in order to protect its civilian population. He said that the Czech Republic would agree to the creation of humanitarian corridors in Gaza if they were mentioned in the European Council's conclusions, but added that he did not consider this to be the most important thing that should be mentioned in the conclusions, saying that Israel's right to self-defence must be emphasised above all.

Eva Filipi is stepping down as Czech ambassador to Syria on October 31 after 13 years in the post, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Daniel Drake confirmed to Czech news site Seznam Zprávy.

Seznam Zprávy describes Eva Filipi's tenure in Syria as "one of the most mysterious projects of Czech diplomacy". Ms. Filipi was one of the very few Western diplomats who remained in Syria during the civil war, and Czechia was the only EU country to maintain operations at its embassy in Syria throughout the conflict. The Czech embassy also represented the United States in Syria, as the US closed its embassy in the country in 2012.

Ms. Filipi received a state award from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before the end of her tenure, which the Czech Foreign Ministry describes as "standard procedure" for departing ambassadors in Syria, with the formal event fully under the control of the host country.

The film ‘Brothers’, a retelling of the Cold War story of the controversial Mašín brothers, premiers in Czech cinemas on Thursday.

The film, which has been selected by the Czech Film and Television Academy as the Czech Oscar nominee for 2024, was written by screenwriter Marek Epstein and directed by Tomáš Mašín, a distant relative of the Mašíns.

It dramatises the events surrounding the Mašín brothers forming an armed resistance group and escaping from communist Czechoslovakia to West Berlin in 1953.