2023-10-30 21:32:46
“Just as the United States would not have agreed to a ceasefire following the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the September 11 terrorist attack, Israel will not agree to a halt to fighting with Hamas following the terrible attacks of October 7,” Netanyahu said Monday. “Calls for Israel to agree to a ceasefire are calls to capitulate to Hamas, to terrorism, to barbarism. That will not happen.”
“Israel’s fight is your fight”
Netanyahu continued: “Every civilized nation should stand with Israel and demand the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.” He hoped for the support of civilized countries. “Because Israel’s fight is your fight. Because you will be the next target if the axis of evil of Hamas and Iran wins. Therefore, Israel’s victory will be your victory.” Hamas will be thrown into the “dustbin of history.”
Battle between “civilization and barbarism”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once once more rejects a break in the fighting. The aim is to destroy the radical Islamic Hamas, he explained at a press conference on Monday. He acknowledged that in every war there are unwanted civilian casualties. Israel did not start the war, but will win it – the operation in the Gaza Strip is a fight between “civilization and barbarism”.
Regarding civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, he said that this might be prevented if people went to a safe zone in the south, as Israel demanded. “Not a single civilian has to die,” Netanyahu said. He once more accused the Islamist Hamas of preventing people from leaving the north of the coastal strip. However, the Israeli Air Force also attacks targets in the south, which also resulted in fatalities.
Netanyahu: There were also civilian casualties in the fight once morest Nazis
After criticizing the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu compared the war once morest Hamas to the Allies’ fight once morest the Nazis. Despite civilian casualties, the Allies in the Second World War were not told: “Don’t eradicate National Socialism.” A journalist had previously asked him whether Israel was collectively punishing the people in the Gaza Strip for Hamas’ terror with air strikes.
As an example, Netanyahu cited an attack by British pilots on the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen during World War II. At that time, the pilots “made a mistake,” missed the target and ultimately killed dozens of children. “This is not something you can blame Britain for. “This was a legitimate act of war with tragic consequences that accompany such legitimate acts,” Netanhaju said.
The Allies fought the war to the end despite the tragic consequences. Netanyahu said they knew that the future of civilization was at stake. “Well, I’m telling you now that the future of our civilization is at stake.”
USA: “We do not support a ceasefire at this time”
The USA deliberately does not want to join the increasingly loud international calls for a ceasefire. “We don’t believe a ceasefire is the right answer right now,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. “We do not support a ceasefire at this time,” Kirby said.
Instead, “pauses” should be considered to bring aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Kirby was convinced that “in the coming days” it would be possible to bring “a hundred trucks a day” with relief supplies to the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas.
UN Palestinian Relief Agency: More help needed
At the same time, the head of the UN Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) appealed for an expansion of humanitarian aid for Gaza. A handful of convoys as before are not enough for more than two million people in need, said UNWRA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. “The existing system that allows aid to be delivered to Gaza is doomed to fail if there is no political will.”
“The entire population is dehumanized”
Lazzarini chose drastic words to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people. The people in the Gaza Strip have the feeling that “they are not treated like other civilians”. Most of them felt trapped in a war that they had nothing to do with. “They feel like the world is equating them all with Hamas. This is dangerous. And we know this only too well from previous conflicts and crises. An entire population is being dehumanized.”
The US State Department, meanwhile, called on Israel to stop violence once morest Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank. Measures must be taken to protect the Palestinian residents. It was made clear to the Israeli government that the settlers’ attacks were unacceptable and that they must be held accountable.
Abducted Israeli soldier freed
Meanwhile, according to the Israeli army, an Israeli soldier was freed during the operation of ground troops in the Gaza Strip. The woman kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 is in good condition and has already met her family, the army said on Twitter (X) on Monday. The liberation took place at night. In a picture distributed by the military, she was seen in the arms of her family. Details of the exemption are currently unknown.
Israeli troops in Gaza City
Eyewitnesses report that Israeli ground troops are currently on the outskirts of Gaza City. Above all, they are intended to destroy Hamas’s huge tunnel system, in which the hostages kidnapped on October 7 are probably also being held.
According to the US State Department, Hamas is setting a number of conditions for the hostages’ release. However, spokesman Matthew Miller did not say what the conditions were. He demanded that Hamas release all Americans and foreign citizens. So far, Hamas is only willing to let all of the more than 200 hostages go if Israel releases around 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in return.
Army continues to advance into Gaza Strip
At the same time, according to the army, ground troops continued to advance into the Gaza Strip. Statements from the army suggest fierce fighting with Hamas – dozens of Hamas terrorists barricaded in houses and tunnels have been killed, an army spokesman said. According to previously unconfirmed reports, Israeli tanks have now advanced to the outskirts of Gaza City.
Graphics: APA/ORF; Source: New York Times/IDF
“Dozens” of tanks on a central traffic artery
debate
Middle East: How to break the spiral of violence?
According to the BBC, the video verified shows how deep the Israeli ground troops have now penetrated into the Gaza Strip. The road, which was previously blocked due to fighting, is now open once more, the BBC reported in the followingnoon, citing its correspondent in the Gaza Strip.
There is no confirmation from the Israeli military. Recently, however, there have been increasing indications that Gaza City might be encircled. Observers spoke of images showing Israeli tanks on the beach in northern Gaza, as well as reports that Israeli ground troops had taken up positions in several places around Gaza City.
As the US television station CNN reported on the basis of its own aerial photographs, the Israeli military has now advanced around three kilometers into the sealed-off Gaza Strip. The coastal strip on the eastern Mediterranean is around 40 kilometers long and between six and 14 kilometers wide.
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