2024-02-23 16:35:34
Image source: Getty Images
23 February 2024, 09:59 GMT
Last updated 2 hours ago
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a “post-war” plan, which stipulates that Israel will maintain “security control” inside the Gaza Strip, with “local officials” taking over civil affairs following the “dismantling” of Hamas.
The document that Netanyahu presented to the security cabinet on Thursday evening (February 22) stipulates the dismantling of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, and the release of all hostages who are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
It also stipulates that Israeli forces will assume security supervision “over the entire western Jordanian region” by land, sea and air “to prevent the strengthening of terrorist elements” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to thwart threats issued by them towards Israel.
The plan also stated that following the end of the war, “the Israeli army will retain an indefinite freedom of action throughout the Strip in order to prevent the return of armed activity,” and “a buffer zone will be established on the Palestinian side of the border.”
The plan also stipulates “completely demilitarizing Gaza,” retaining only what is necessary “for the requirements of maintaining public order,” and working to “eliminate extremism in all religious, educational, and social welfare institutions in Gaza.”
The project does not mention the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas, without explicitly ruling out its participation in the management of the Gaza Strip.
The plan also does not provide for the establishment of a Palestinian state, which is the solution called for by Washington, London, and Paris. Which considers the two-state solution to be the only solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel.
“Gaza will only be part of the Palestinian state”
The Palestinian Authority responded to the proposal, through the official spokesman for the presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeina, who considered that the plans proposed by Netanyahu “are aimed at continuing Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Abu Rudeina stressed that “Gaza will only be part of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Any plans other than that are doomed to failure, and Israel will not succeed in its attempts to change the geographical and demographic reality in the Gaza Strip.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine considered that Netanyahu’s plan “is just a pipe dream, and imaginary goals that are difficult to achieve. Its goal is to preoccupy the internal Zionist situation in light of the crushing crisis within the war council, and also to prolong the Zionist aggression once morest the Gaza Strip in light of the enemy’s failure to achieve any of its goals.” .
The announcement of Netanyahu’s plan comes at a time when an Israeli delegation headed today, Friday (February 23), led by the head of the Mossad, to Paris in order to resume talks aimed at a new truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to what Israeli media reported.
The Israeli delegation includes the head of the Mossad, David Barnia, and the head of the Internal Security Service, Ronen Bar, in addition to delegations from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.
The White House spokesman confirmed on Thursday that the talks being conducted by President Joe Biden’s envoy regarding the release of hostages and the cessation of hostilities in Gaza are “going well.”
John Kirby said: “Our initial indications from Brett McGurk indicate that the discussions are going well,” explaining that the envoy visited Cairo on Wednesday, and was in Israel on Thursday, to hold meetings with the government as well as the families of American hostages.
He pointed out that the talks are related to “a long-term ceasefire, with the aim of liberating all the hostages” and bringing more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas delegation ends its talks in Cairo
The Hamas movement announced that the delegation, headed by the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, had completed its visit to Egypt on Thursday evening.
According to a statement issued by the Hamas movement, the discussions focused on “the situation in Gaza, the cessation of fighting, the return of the displaced, the exchange of prisoners, and humanitarian aid.”
For weeks, the movement has been demanding a “complete ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. These demands were considered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be “delusions,” while his government expresses its readiness to stop the fighting while affirming its desire to continue the military operation in order to “eliminate” Hamas.
In the face of growing human losses, new discussions have begun on a plan drawn up by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt, the first phase of which provides for a six-week truce during which hostages will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, and large amounts of humanitarian aid will be brought into Gaza.
Israel says 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 30 of whom have died, out of a total of regarding 250 people detained during the October 7 attack.
The last round of talks two weeks ago failed to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would achieve a permanent ceasefire in exchange for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by the movement.
On the ground in Gaza, Israeli forces targeted various areas of the Gaza Strip last night, Thursday, resulting in dozens of deaths.
More than 23 Palestinians, most of them children and women, were killed, and others were injured, as a result of a bombing by Israeli warplanes on citizens’ homes in the central Gaza Strip.
Medical sources reported that Israeli forces re-stormed the Nasser Medical Complex, following they had withdrawn from inside it, maintained its siege, and prevented entry or exit from it.
Hamas’s government information office in Gaza confirmed that homes in the Deir al-Balah area in the central Gaza Strip were targeted, killing more than 40 people and wounding regarding 100 others.
Israel also launched air strikes on Rafah, and threatened to bring its forces by ground into the city, which is crowded with more than one and a half million people, under the pretext of tracking Hamas fighters.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the past 24 hours witnessed the death of 97 people due to Israeli air strikes on various areas of the Strip.
Four Palestinians were also killed, and dozens were injured, on Thursday evening, following Israeli forces targeted displaced people on the coastal road in the Gaza Strip with live bullets.
A large number of displaced people were taking the coastal road, fleeing hunger and thirst in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip, towards the central and southern area of the Strip, when Israeli forces targeted them with bullets.
“UNRWA has reached the brink of collapse”
At the same time, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned Thursday, in a letter addressed to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, that the agency had reached “the brink of collapse.”
“It is with deep regret that I inform you today that the agency has reached the breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle it and freeze donor funding, in the face of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza,” he said in the letter.
“The agency’s ability to fulfill its mandate under General Assembly Resolution 302 is now seriously threatened,” he added.
UNRWA, which was established pursuant to this resolution adopted in 1949, employs regarding 30,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
The agency has been the focus of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its employees of involvement in the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas on southern Israel that led to the deaths of 1,160 people, most of them civilians.
The agency immediately terminated the contracts of the accused employees and began an internal investigation.
But although “Israel has not yet provided any evidence to UNRWA” to substantiate its accusations, 16 countries have suspended its funding, which amounts to a total of $450 million, Lazzarini said, noting that the agency’s activities throughout the region “will be at great risk” starting from next month. The Commissioner-General of UNRWA added, “I fear that we are on the verge of a massive catastrophe that has serious implications for peace, security and human rights in the region.”
In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the foreign ministers of the G20 countries affirmed their support for the two-state solution as the only way to end the Middle East crisis.
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said, “We were all focused on trying to reach a formula that would lead to the release of the remaining hostages and achieve a sustainable humanitarian ceasefire.”
This came following two days of meetings.
“Everyone here, everyone, I didn’t hear anyone opposing it. It was strong support for the two-state solution,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said.
Borrell continued: “The common denominator is that there will be no peace, and there will be no sustainable security for Israel, unless the Palestinians have a clear political horizon for building their own state.”
The war in Gaza left approximately 29,500 people dead, according to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is subject to continuous Israeli bombing.
Image source: Getty Images
In the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian was killed and 15 others were injured, Thursday evening, as a result of an Israeli bombing of a civilian vehicle in the Jenin camp.
Security sources reported that a drone bombed the vehicle in the camp yard, destroying it and setting it on fire.
On Thursday evening, Israeli forces were notified of the demolition of two homes and a water well, and the destruction of an electricity network, in the village of Khallet al-Farra, south of Hebron.
Confrontations broke out with the forces when they raided the entrance to the Jalazoun camp, north of Ramallah, on Thursday evening.
The forces fired stun grenades and tear gas extensively during the confrontations, causing a number of Palestinians to suffer from suffocation.
In New York, on Thursday, the UN Security Council held its monthly session to discuss “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue,” during which members listened to a briefing from the United Nations Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wensland.
Winsland spoke regarding his visit to Gaza this week, to see for himself the unfolding tragedy, and to meet “the UN teams working tirelessly and courageously on the ground,” in the midst of grave challenges to provide life-saving aid to Palestinian civilians in the Strip, noting that what he saw “was shocking and horrific.” .
Wensland reiterated the urgent need for an agreement leading to a humanitarian ceasefire, and said that he would continue to urge all parties concerned to remove the main obstacles to the United Nations humanitarian response on the ground.
He stressed the need for more safety measures, more security, tools and access points to expand aid, especially in the northern Strip.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council failed to adopt a draft resolution calling for an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, following the United States used its veto.
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