In a statement published via its official Telegram channel, Hamas said that if the International Court of Justice orders a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian militants will abide by the decision if Israel also abides by it. Al Jazeera reports it. The statement also says Hamas will release all hostages if Israel releases currently detained Palestinians. “The Zionist enemy must end its 18-year siege of Gaza and provide all necessary aid to the population,” the statement concludes.
The spokesperson for the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, denounces a attack against people queuing to receive humanitarian aid in Gaza. “The Israeli occupation has committed a new massacre against thousands of hungry mouths waiting for help,” Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement on Telegram, as reported by Al Jazeera. The attack occurred at the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City, killing at least 20 people and wounding 150 others, he said.
In Ramallah, West Bankthe meeting between Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Palestinian President Abu Mazen. The Palestinian Foreign Minister al Malki is also present at the meeting. Tajani is the first EU Foreign Minister to meet the leader of the PA after the Hamas attacks on the Jewish state on 7 October.
“The objective is to start a political path to arrive at a true Palestinian state that can live in peace with the Israeli state, respecting Israel’s security needs,” Tajani said in the meeting with Abu Mazen. “My visit here – she added – is a mission of closeness and solidarity with the Palestinian National Authority”. Abu Mazen – from what has been learned – asked Italy and the EU to prepare to be close to the PNA in the reconstruction of Gaza where 70% of the buildings have been destroyed, services for the population and infrastructure do not work . While negotiations and the political process continue – Abu Mazen added according to the same sources – it will be necessary to take care of the Palestinian population living in the strip. With Italy – he concluded – we will also work to rebuild the churches and buildings of the Christian community. After recalling that Hamas has nothing in common with the PNA, Abu Mazen underlined that the Palestinian National Authority is making and will make reforms in the government. At the end of the war – he continued – the PNA will carry out a renewal of its administration. For the Palestinian president, it is necessary to be able to quickly achieve peace, to create the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders.
The Foreign Minister Antonio Tajanivisiting the region, he met the Israeli president in Jerusalem Isaac Herzog. According to what was learned, the meeting lasted 35 minutes and the war in Gaza and the resulting international situation were discussed. Then the meeting with the Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, and the Minister of the War Cabinet, Benny Gantz.
“We strongly support the actions of the Israeli government against terrorist organizations and at the same time we want to address with our Israeli friends the preparation for a return to political and diplomatic confrontation”, said Tajani, meeting President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem. “After the military operations in Gaza – he added – it will be necessary to immediately identify a political path to prevent the current clashes” from repeating and spreading in the region. We need to start “a political path that will inevitably lead” to the formula of the 2-state solution.
During the meeting Tajani – who also met some family members of the hostages held by Hamas in Israel – expressed “once again his indignation at the Hamas attack on 7 October on the Israeli civilian population around Gaza” and confirmed the Italian government’s request to the Israeli government “to protect in every way the lives of Palestinian civilians during the military operations”. Among the topics discussed with the Israeli head of state, Minister Tajani evoked “the need to protect Christians, both the few remaining in Gaza and the Christian Arab citizens present in the West Bank”.
The Foreign Minister also reiterated that “in South Lebanon it is important to maintain a safe distance between the Israeli army and Hezbollah military formations”. And he announced that he will speak with the Israeli leadership today in Jerusalem about these issues and the “requests received from the Lebanese government” during his visit yesterday to the Land of Cedars. “The negotiation – he added – must proceed despite this phase of war in Gaza, we want to give a message to all the parties involved in this scenario: there is no alternative to a path of peace, which must be started immediately”.
“We are in favor of an interruption of the conflict” in Gaza, Tajani said in response to a question on whether the Hague court would decide tomorrow to impose a ceasefire on Israel. “But provided – he added – that it is not a proposal against Israel and that no more rockets arrive from Hamas to hit the country”. “At this moment the Israeli side is certainly not enthusiastic about this proposal. I also understand this because they are at war and it is difficult for the home front to talk about it.” The minister added that however “we must not give up on the two-state solution. It concerns the future, without relaxing security around Israel”. The head of the Farnesina will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu shortly.
‘Biden sends CIA chief to mediate hostages in Gaza’
Joe Biden plans to use CIA Director William Burns to help craft an ambitious deal between Hamas and Israel that would include the release of all remaining hostages and a two-month ceasefire, the longest pause in hostilities since the war began in Gaza. The Washington Post reports this, citing some sources, according to whom Burns will go to Europe in the next few days to meet the heads of Israeli and Egyptian intelligence and the prime minister of Qatar.
US and UK impose new sanctions against the Houthis
The United States and the United Kingdom impose new sanctions against the Houthis. This was stated by the State Department, underlining that four soldiers from the group ended up in the crosshairs.
“Houthi terrorist attacks against merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Adem have destroyed international supplies and infringed navigational rights and freedoms. The United States is committed to safeguarding international trade and taking action with partners and allies in safeguarding these critical waterways,” the State Department says.
In Kerem Shalom, trucks with aid were blocked for the second day
For the second consecutive day, groups of demonstrators, including family members of Israeli prisoners of Hamas, are blocking the transit of trucks with humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip at the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing. This was reported by the media according to which they condition the transition to the immediate release by Hamas of over 130 prisoners. “This humanitarian aid – said one of the hostages’ relatives – goes to the local population, but not to our relatives”. Meanwhile, Israel is still waiting to know whether a shipment of medicines sent to Gaza on the initiative of Qatar and France about ten days ago was in fact distributed among around forty sick Israeli hostages. A political source, quoted yesterday by public television Kan, noted that “despite commitments” on the eve of the expedition, Israel has not received any proof that the distribution of medicines to the hostages had taken place.
The death toll from the attack on the UN refuge rises to 12
The death toll from yesterday’s attack on the refuge Unrwa A Khan Yunis in Gaza it rose to 12, according to a statement by Thomas White, the deputy humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories. The Guardian reports it. White said a number of missions to reach the dead and wounded had been denied, without directly saying that the attempts had been blocked by Israel. He said that UN teams managed to reach the site only in the evening. Another 75 people were injured, including 15 in critical condition. Israel denied responsibility for the attack, in which two tank shells hit an UNRWA training center.
A new truce proposal from Qatar, but the Israeli right accuses Doha
Qatar has sent Israel and Hamas a new proposal for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, Bloomberg reports, citing sources close to the negotiations. The plan would provide for the release of all hostages held by the Islamist movement, in exchange for the release of a certain number of Palestinian prisoners. The document would also state that the amount of humanitarian aid delivered to the enclave should be increased.
“Qatar supports and finances terrorism, protects Hamas and is largely responsible for the massacre of Israeli citizens committed” by the Palestinian Islamist movement: this is the accusation of the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. In a post on his Doha would be “problematic”.
American warning to Israel after the massacre in the refugee center in Gaza
The United States “strongly supports the right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists hiding among the civilian population, but Israel retains the responsibility to protect civilians and humanitarian sites.” This was stated by the spokeswoman of the US National Security Council Adrienne Watson. “We are seriously concerned by reports of attacks targeting a facility of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), resulting in reports of fires in the building, in a neighborhood in southern Gaza where more than 30 thousand Palestinians displaced”, reads a note from the White House.
“While we do not yet have all the details about what happened and will continue to seek further information on today’s incidents – the text continues – the loss of any innocent life is a tragedy. This conflict has already resulted in the devastating death and injury of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, and we mourn every single civilian life that has been lost. It is heartbreaking to see children killed, injured and orphaned.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are investigating the attack on the UNRWA shelter in Khan Yunis, which caused 9 deaths and 75 injuries, but add that they suspect that the massacre was caused by a rocket launched by Hamas. Times of Israel writes it. According to Thomas White, director of the UN agency for aid for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the building housing 800 people was hit by “two anti-tank shells”. Instead, after a thorough examination of the ground forces’ activity, “the IDF has now ruled out that the incident was caused by a
Israeli air raid or artillery fire” and is therefore “examining the possibility that it was Hamas fire that struck.” Times of Israel recalls that in that area the Israeli soldiers were exposed to rocket and mortar fire.
Media, Israeli army studies delivery of anti-tank rockets to settlers
The Israeli military is examining the opportunity to distribute anti-tank rockets to Jewish settlements more isolated in the West Bank and those located a short distance from Palestinian locations, in light of the multiplication of armed incidents and in the fear that they could be the subject of attacks similar to those launched by Hamas on 7 October. This was reported by Haaretz, according to which the anti-tank rockets would be entrusted to the commanders of the emergency response teams organized in each settlement and made up of local inhabitants. The commanders would be authorized to use it only ‘in the face of “mass attacks on board vehicles” against their settlements. The newspaper specifies that no definitive decision has yet been taken on the matter and recalls that in recent months the settlers who Residents in at-risk settlements have already received thousands of weapons, including heavy machine guns.
Palestinian killed during clashes with army in West Bank
A Palestinian was killed today in the area of Jenin (West Bank) during an Israeli army operation. This was reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. Local sources specify that he is Wissam al-Hashan, a Palestinian who in the past had served a period of imprisonment in Israel. Previously it had been learned that in the locality of Bir el-Basha (Jenin) military units had laid siege to a building and made numerous arrests. The army has not yet provided its own version of the episode.
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2024-01-25 18:52:00
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