WASHINGTON – The White House confirmed that US President Joe Biden stressed in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Wednesday, the urgent need to conclude a ceasefire agreement in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages.
However, Israel and the Palestinian factions issued statements reiterating their strong adherence to their demands.
The call, which included US Vice President Kamala Harris, came after Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours.
“The President stressed the urgent need to conclude a ceasefire and release the hostages, and they discussed upcoming talks in Cairo aimed at removing any remaining obstacles,” the White House said in a statement about the call.
American, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators have been struggling for months to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas, and new talks are expected to be held in Cairo within days.
But Israel and the factions renewed their adherence to their demands yesterday, Wednesday.
“Israel will insist on achieving all of its war goals, as defined by the security cabinet, including that Gaza never again pose a security threat to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The office denied the veracity of an Israeli television report, saying that Israel had not agreed to drop its demand to keep forces on the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, which is a major point of contention.
The factions movement said in a statement that Mohammed Darwish, head of the movement’s Shura Council, received a delegation from the Islamic Jihad movement headed by its Secretary-General, Ziad al-Nakhalah. The statement stressed the main demands of the factions movement, which include that “any agreement must achieve a comprehensive cessation of aggression, a complete withdrawal from the Strip, the start of reconstruction, and an end to the siege, along with a serious exchange deal.”
Biden’s call with Netanyahu came after a quick visit to the Middle East by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended Tuesday without a truce agreement between Israel and the militant group.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said its aircraft struck about 30 targets across the Strip, including tunnels, launch sites and an observation post.
He added that the forces killed dozens of militants and confiscated weapons, including explosives, hand grenades and automatic rifles.
The Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza said Israeli forces bombed a school and a nearby house in Gaza City, killing at least four people and wounding 15, including many children.
The army said in a statement that it struck militants from the factions movement operating in a command center located inside a compound that was previously used as a school.
The army accused the factions’ movement of continuing to operate from within civilian facilities and areas, an accusation the movement denies.
Commenting on the attack on the UN-run school, Philippe Lazzarini, director general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said in a post on Twitter: “Reports of children killed and injured. Some burned to death.”
“Gaza is no longer a place for children. They are the first victims of this merciless war. We cannot allow an intolerable situation to become the new normal. Enough is enough. A ceasefire is far too late,” he added.
Seven Palestinians in a camp for displaced people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the town of Bani Suhaila near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said.
The Israeli army also issued new evacuation orders in the densely populated Deir al-Balah area in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge due to the fighting.
Medics and residents said orders the Israeli military said were necessary to evacuate civilians from what had become a “dangerous combat zone” were quickly followed by tank fire, killing at least one person and wounding several others with machine gun fire.
Palestinian health authorities say more than 40,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military campaign that has been ongoing since October.
Israel launched the military campaign after an attack led by the factions movement on October 7. According to Israeli statistics, the attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the capture of about 250 hostages.
For the displaced in Deir al-Balah, the lack of progress towards a ceasefire has compounded their misery as they search for any place safe from the fighting.
“Where do we go? Where do we go?” asked Abu Rakan, a 55-year-old displaced person from Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip who has been displaced five times since October.
“We feel that they are getting closer every now and then,” he told Reuters via a messaging app. “I live hundreds of metres away from the threatened areas, and since morning I have been searching for an empty place in western Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and Nuseirat, to no avail.”
Palestinian and UN officials say most of the Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced by the ongoing Israeli military campaign, which has also destroyed large swaths of the territory. Even in areas deemed safe, there are frequent reports of casualties from Israeli strikes.
Reuters
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2024-08-22 23:23:31
