2023-12-17 09:45:19
Time.news – There is “urgent need” for a “lasting ceasefire” in the Strip Gaza, and not the “general and immediate” one. This is what the British Foreign Secretary claims David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. “We must do everything we can to pave the way for a lasting ceasefire, leading to lasting peace,” the two ministers wrote via the Sunday Times.
“Too many civilians have been killed,” they added. According to the two ministers, the “general and immediate ceasefire, in the hope that it will become permanent in some way”, is not the path to follow”. This would be equivalent to “ignoring the reason why Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas – have underlined – attacked Israel in a barbaric manner and continues to launch rockets to kill Israeli citizens every day. Hamas must lay down its arms.”
In recent days, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza. The United Kingdom abstained. In recent days, President Joe Biden has also put pressure on the Israeli authorities to move to a less intense phase of the offensive to better protect civilians.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killing of the three hostages by IDF soldiers on Friday was a “terrible tragedy.”
“It broke my heart and the entire nation,” Netanyahu said, adding that “we will not relent in the military and political effort to return our hostages. Military pressure is necessary both for the return of the hostages and for victory. Without military pressure, we have nothing.”
Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to the Palestinian Authority taking control of the Gaza Strip at the end of the war, despite US support. “We must tell the truth and not cultivate illusions,” he said, “After the elimination of Hamas, the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized and will be under the control of Israeli security. Despite the pain, despite international pressure, we will move forward until end, nothing will stop us.”
“The Strip will be demilitarized”
After the elimination of Hamas, the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized and will be under Israeli security control. Despite the pain, despite the international pressure, we will continue until the end, nothing will stop us.” This was stated this evening by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I – continued Netanyahu – am proud to have blocked the birth of a Palestinian state”. Journalists asked him why he did not withdraw from the Oslo Accords, which he has always criticized. “I inherited them. The decision to bring the PLO from Tunis, and to plant it in the heart of Judea and Samaria and in Gaza – he recalled – was a decision taken and implemented before I became prime minister. I thought it was a terrible mistake and I still think so. You and your journalist friends have been blaming me for almost 30 years for holding back the Oslo Accords and preventing a Palestinian state. This is true. I am proud to have prevented the creation of a Palestinian state because ‘Today everyone understands what that Palestinian state could have been, now that we have seen the small Palestinian state in Gaza. Everyone understands what would have happened if we had capitulated to international pressure and allowed a state like the one in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), which surrounds Jerusalem and the outskirts of Tel Aviv”.
Four Palestinians killed in West Bank, more than 500 in 2023
Four Palestinians died in an Israeli drone strike in Tulkarem, in the north of the West Bank: there are now over 500 deaths this year in Palestinian territory, the highest figure since 2002, at the height of the violence of the Second Intifada. Since October 7, 295 Palestinians have died across the West Bank, killed in clashes with the Israeli army or settlers, more than half of the total of 504 victims in 2023.
Two women killed in Church compound in Gaza
A mother and daughter were killed by an Israeli soldier, and seven people were injured, in complex that houses the only Catholic church of Gaza City. This was announced by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pizzaballa. According to a witness on X, a Palestinian Christian, the two women were a mother and daughter, Nahida and Samar, who were going to the Nunnery to use the only bathroom.
Air raids on Gaza, 2 more Israeli soldiers killed
While calls for Israel to negotiate for the release of the hostages are multiplying, there is a new wave of raids on the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas, several people were killed in air raids on Deir al-Balah; There were also air and artillery attacks on the town of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, the second city of the Gaza Strip, a stronghold of Hamas, where the clash has been raging for days.
Meanwhile, Tsahal has announced the death of two more of its soldiers, and so now 121 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the offensive in Gaza at the end of October.
Ongoing negotiations with Qatar confirmed
Netanyahu confirmed that new negotiations mediated by Qatar are underway. The prime minister dodged a question at a news conference about Friday’s meeting in Europe between his chief negotiator, Mossad chief David Barnea, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. However, he confirmed that he had given instructions to the negotiating team.
“We have serious criticisms of Qatar, which I suppose you will hear about in due course, but right now we are trying to complete the recovery of our hostages,” he said. Netanyahu said he would not divulge details of the talks. “There is one mistake we can make: transmit our calculations to Hamas, to the world. We will not go into the details of the negotiation.”
Unicef: “Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for children”
“Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.” This was stated by Unicef, which adds: “Entire neighbourhoods, where children played and went to school, have been transformed into piles of rubble. Children need an immediate and lasting humanitarian ceasefire. Now”.
In the last two months – writes the ‘Guardian’ – around 8,000 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli air strikes
13 Palestinians killed for every Israeli killed
The Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in an update that the death toll had risen to at least 19,088 deaths, with more than 54,450 injured. Since October 7, there have been more than 13 Palestinians killed for every Israeli dead.
The Ministry – writes the Palestinian agency Wafa – stated in a press release that the documented number of victims in the Gaza Strip has reached 18,800, while the death toll in the West Bank has also risen to 288. Furthermore, the Ministry stated , 51,000 Palestinians were injured in Gaza and nearly 3,450 more in the West Bank.
Among the casualties in Gaza, over 300 health workers, 86 journalists, 35 civil protection personnel and 135 UNRWA personnel were killed.
A senior Hamas official says that more than 8,000 people are missing under the rubble due to Israeli bombing, in addition to the death toll of more than 19,000 people. He said that 70% of the dead and missing are women and children.
Biden to Israel: “More attention to civilians”
US President Joe Biden has called for more attention. “I want them to focus on saving civilian lives, don’t stop hunting Hamas, but be more careful” His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, arrived in Israel and the West Bank to reiterate the message. “We don’t think it makes sense or is right for Israel to occupy Gaza in the long term,” he told reporters after the meeting with Israeli officials.
Likewise, several Western governments have called on Israel to “take concrete measures to stop unprecedented violence by Israeli settlers” in the West Bank, where eight Palestinians have been killed and 83 injured in just over two months.
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