Nine Arab leaders made a joint plea Thursday for a cease-fire to end Gaza’s civilian suffering and allow humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave, where Israel has imposed a suffocating siege ever since Hamas’ rampage and hostage-taking in southern Israel ignited the war. The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates condemned what they called the targeting of civilians and violations of international law. Residents are running out of food, water and medicine, and U.N. workers have barely any fuel left to support relief missions. Israeli troops and tanks briefly raided northern Gaza, the military said Thursday, engaging with Hamas fighters and targeting anti-tank weapons in order to “prepare the battlefield” before an expected ground invasion. The third Israeli raid since the war began came after more than two weeks of devastating airstrikes that have left thousands dead, and more than 1 million displaced from their homes, in the small, densely-populated territory.
Quick Read
Arab Criticism
- Nine Arab nations condemned Israel’s actions, emphasizing violations of international law.
- The ministers criticized Israel’s occupation and stressed the importance of a two-state solution.
Israeli Forces and Gaza Conflict
- Israeli forces executed their largest Gaza ground attack in a 20-day war against Hamas.
- Growing Arab resentment over Israel’s continuous attacks on Gaza.
International Responses and Interventions
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at potential full ground invasion.
- U.S. and other nations urged Israel to hold off, fearing broader Middle East conflict.
- U.N. agency, UNRWA, warned of ceasing operations in Gaza due to fuel shortages.
Hamas and Fuel Reserves
- Israeli military accused Hamas of holding substantial fuel reserves that could benefit hospitals.
Aid Flow and Rafah Crossing
- Tightened checks at the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza hindered aid delivery.
- U.N. World Food Programme’s Cindy McCain emphasized the need for unfettered access to Gaza.
Casualties and Trustworthiness of Figures
- Israel attacked Gaza after a Hamas attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7.
- Gaza’s health ministry reported 7,028 Palestinian deaths, including 2,913 children.
- U.S. State Department questioned the authenticity of Hamas’ figures.
- Israeli military also doubted Hamas’ numbers but didn’t offer their own.
- Gaza health ministry released detailed documentation of the claimed casualties.
Military Operations
- Israeli army radio reported the largest Israeli incursion into northern Gaza.
- Central Gaza residents reported extensive tank shelling.
Wider Regional Concerns
- Concerns over escalating regional conflict.
- U.S. faced attacks in Iraq and Syria, suspected to be by Iran-backed groups.
- U.S. deployed warships and aircraft to the Middle East, with an additional 900 U.S. troops.
- U.S. President Joe Biden warned Iran’s Supreme Leader against targeting U.S. personnel.
Israeli Stance
- Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated no interest in expanding the war.
European Union (EU) and German Response
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated EU’s support for Israel.
- EU expressed grave concern over Gaza’s humanitarian situation and emphasized the need for humanitarian access.
U.S. Financial Concerns
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sought ways to reduce financing to Hamas.
Hostages Situation
- Concern over 200 hostages taken by Hamas.
- Hamas’s armed wing spokesman claimed 50 captives were killed due to Israeli strikes.
- Iran’s Warning at the UN
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that if Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza don’t stop, the U.S. might face consequences.
- He addressed American leaders, emphasizing that they won’t be spared if the “genocide in Gaza” continues. This statement was made during a General Assembly meeting on the Middle East.
- Israel’s Retaliation and Situation in Gaza
- Israel is seeking to eliminate Hamas in response to an Oct. 7 attack that resulted in 1,400 deaths and hundreds taken hostage.
- Israel has conducted air strikes on Gaza, imposed a siege, and is considering a ground invasion.
- Palestinian authorities report over 7,000 casualties.
- Hamas and Hostage Situation
- Hamas conveyed to Iran its willingness to release civilian hostages.
- Hamas urged global intervention for the release of 6,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
- Iran’s Stance on the Hostage Release
- Iran, along with Qatar and Turkey, is prepared to assist in the significant humanitarian effort of releasing hostages.
- Amirabdollahian emphasized the global community’s responsibility to facilitate the release of the 6,000 Palestinian detainees.
The Associated Press has the story:
9 Arab Nations condemn Israel’s actions, emphasize violations of int. law
Newslooks- GAZA/JERUSALEM, (AP)
With no sign of a let-up in Gaza, The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates condemned what they called the targeting of civilians and violations of international law.
Their joint statement said Israel’s right to self-defence did not justify breaking the law and neglecting Palestinians’ rights. The Arab ministers condemned forced displacement and collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, where an estimated more than 613,000 people have been made homeless and are being sheltered by UNRWA.
They also criticised Israel’s occupation of Palestinian areas and called for more efforts to implement a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict – an idea at the heart of long-moribund peacemaking.
“The absence of a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has led to repeated acts of violence and suffering for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and the peoples of the region,” it said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Friday will send a clear signal of backing for Israel.
At an EU summit, a declaration expressed the group’s “gravest concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.” It called for “continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need”, including humanitarian corridors and pauses in fighting to deliver aid.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Bloomberg News that Washington was looking for more ways to reduce the flow of financing to Hamas.
Concern also grew over the fate of more than 200 hostages seized by Hamas in the Oct. 7 assault and taken to Gaza.
A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on Thursday about 50 captives had been killed in Gaza due to Israeli strikes. He gave no further details and Reuters was unable to verify the numbers.
Israeli troops raid Gaza
Israeli forces carried out their biggest Gaza ground attack in their 20-day-old war with Hamas overnight as anger grew in the Arab world over Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said Israeli troops were still preparing for a full ground invasion, while the U.S. and other countries urged Israel to delay, fearing it could ignite hostilities on other Middle East fronts.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it may soon have to shut down operations in Gaza if no fuel reaches the Hamas-ruled territory amid a desperate need for shelter, water, food and medical services.
The Israeli military says Hamas is holding large reserves of fuel which could be used by hospitals.
Overly stringent checks on trucks at the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza were slowing the flow of aid, U.N. World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said in an interview with Reuters.
“We need safe, unfettered access into Gaza so that we can feed and make sure that people don’t starve to death, because that’s what’s happening,” McCain said.
Israel has bombarded the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities. Israel says Hamas killed some 1,400 people including children, and took more than 200 hostages, some of them infants and older adults.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday that 7,028 Palestinians had been killed in the retaliatory air strikes, including 2,913 children.
The U.S. State Department said Washington knows that a significant number of people have died in Gaza but does not have independent confirmation of numbers, and it does not trust figures released by Hamas.
The Israeli military has also said Hamas figures cannot be trusted, but has not provided its own assessment. Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra rejected statements questioning the figures.
The ministry on Thursday published a 212-page document with names and ID numbers of the more than 7,000 Palestinians it says were killed in Israel’s bombardment.
BIGGEST ISRAELI INCURSION INTO GAZA YET
Israeli army radio said the military had overnight staged its biggest incursion into northern Gaza of the war.
“Tanks and infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts,” it said.
Palestinians said Israeli air strikes pounded the territory again overnight and people in central Gaza reported intensive tank shelling all night.
Governments in the West and the Middle East are concerned about a wider regional conflict developing.
U.S. forces have been attacked more than a dozen times in Iraq and Syria in the past week by what Washington suspects are Iran-backed groups. Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have exchanged fire. The United States has sent warships and fighter aircraft to the region since Oct. 7 and on Thursday the Pentagon said about 900 more U.S. troops have arrived in the Middle East or are heading there to bolster air defences for U.S. personnel.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a direct message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against targeting U.S. personnel in the region, the White House said on Thursday.
For Israel’s part, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, asked at a press conference about the possibility of a confrontation with Iran, said Israel has “no interest in expanding the war.”
“We are waging war on the southern front against Hamas, prepared for any development in the north, Hezbollah is suffering many losses,” Gallant said.
At UN, Iran warns US will ‘not be spared’ if war in Gaza continues
Iran’s Foreign Minster Hossein Amirabdollahian warned at the United Nations on Thursday that if Israel’s retaliation against Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip doesn’t end then the United States will “not be spared from this fire.”
“I say frankly to the American statesmen, who are now managing the genocide in Palestine, that we do not welcome (an)expansion of the war in the region. But if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire,” he told a meeting of the 193-member General Assembly on the Middle East.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,400 people and saw hundreds taken hostage. Israel has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and is preparing a ground invasion. Palestinian authorities say more than 7,000 have been killed.
Hamas has told Iran that it was ready to release civilian hostages, adding that the world should push for the release of 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, Amirabdollahian said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to play its part in this very important humanitarian endeavor, along with Qatar and Turkey. Naturally, the release of the 6,000 Palestinian prisoners is another necessity and responsibility of the global community,” he said.
