2023-11-04 23:02:34
Time.news – While heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hamas militiamen continue in the Gaza Strip, the diplomatic tour of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkenafter Israel he touched Amman, where he met the Jordanian king Abdullah II, the foreign ministers of five Arab countries and the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Blinken once again asked for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to be provided to civilians in the enclave but the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, still does not consent. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogansaid he no longer considered him an “interlocutor” and recalled his ambassador to Israel for consultations.
The meeting with Blinken was attended by the heads of diplomacy of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar who, together with the Palestinian representative, had been received by Abdullah II who, before the conversation with the US Secretary of State, he had asked them to “coordinate to speak with one voice with the international community on the dangerous events in Gaza”.
Blinken’s appeal
During the press conference following the summit, Blinken renewed the call for “humanitarian pauses” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in order to allow civilians in the Gaza Strip to receive aid. The head of diplomacy in Washington also thanked his counterpart in Doha, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, for his role in the negotiations for the release of the hostages held in Gaza, 60 of whom, according to Hamas, are currently missing. Al Thani for his part, in a bilateral meeting with Blinken, underlined that the continuous Israeli bombings complicate Qatar’s mediation efforts.
© Pool/AFP
Blinken ad Amman
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the Jewish state’s actions could not be accepted as “legitimate self-defense” and accused Israel not only of targeting civilians in “collective punishment” but also of “trying to force emigration so that Palestinians leave their lands.”
His Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, declared that Israel is “committing war crimes” in Gaza and that the ongoing bombings will bring “neither Israel’s security nor peace to the region”, which instead “is sinking into a sea of hate that will define generations to come.”
“A child dies every 10 minutes in Gaza”
The calls from Arab countries for an “immediate ceasefire” remain unheard for now. Israeli raids continue to give no respite to an exhausted population which, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, is now mourning at least 9,500 deaths, including 3,900 children. That is, according to the head of the Gaza press office, Salama Maarouf, “one child every ten minutes”. And the influx of humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing, crossed today by thirty trucks carrying food and medical supplies, remains completely insufficient.
The Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, announced the killing of 12 Hamas commanders and the completion of the encirclement of Gaza City in a few days. “During Shabbat, there were fierce battles inside the Gaza Strip. We started fighting inside the built-up areas and the IDF is using all its strength,” the minister said. The number one target remains Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “We will find Sinwar and eliminate him,” Gallant promised at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
© StringerAfpTv/ AFP
A man carries an injured little girl in his arms in Gaza after an Israeli raid
Hamas today announced that it fired an Ayyash 250 rocket, believed to have a range of 250 kilometers, at the city of Eilat, at the southern tip of Israel. Images released by the Israeli media show a trail of smoke, which would signal the missile’s interception. Hamas has fired several Ayyash 250 rockets so far, causing no injuries or damage.
Guterres “horrified” by attack on ambulances
Meanwhile, Israeli fire continues to hit civilian infrastructure. This morning the raids also damaged the Catholic school of the Sisters of the Rosary in Jerusalem. However, what is causing discussion is above all the attack on two ambulances leaving the Shifa hospital. Israel confirmed it had targeted the vehicle but replied that the ambulance was being used “by a Hamas terrorist cell”.
In turn, the Islamist movement denied and claimed that the attack on the convoy, which was supposed to take the wounded out of the Strip, killed at least 15 people. According to Hamas, a school in the northern Strip hosting displaced civilians was also hit, at least twenty of whom were killed. The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterressaid he was “horrified” by the attack and described as “heartbreaking” the images of bodies scattered outside the hospital documented by the France Presse agency, whose Gaza office was also bombed.
© AfpTvStringer/ AFP
Bodies scattered after attack on ambulances in Gaza
Erdogan’s tear
Contested at home, where today thousands of demonstrators protested in front of his official residence to ask for his resignation in light of the bloody Hamas incursion on 7 October, Netanyahu also has to deal with the diplomatic breach of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to which the Israeli prime minister “is no longer his interlocutor”.
Turkey then announced that it had recalled its ambassador to Israel, Sakir Ozkan Torunlar, back home for consultations. The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded, through spokesperson Lior Haiat, that this is “another step by the Turkish President siding with the terrorist organization Hamas”.
Torunlar was appointed on 6 October 2022, at the end of a two-year normalization process between the two countries. The Israeli government recalled its diplomats to Turkey just under two weeks ago, after the start of the new war against Hamas. Ankara will be the next stage of Blinken’s mission tomorrow.
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