Gaza: negotiations for an agreement stalled again, WHO continues its polio vaccine campaign

2024-09-06 09:45:00

There is still slim hope of a struggle in Gaza against the stubbornness of both parties, Israel and Hamas, in holding on to their positions. The two armies blamed each other for the failure of the new round of negotiations, at a time when fighting and Israeli bombings in the occupied Palestinian territories continued. Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into Tel Aviv while the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories warned of the risk of violence spreading to the occupied West Bank. WHO announces the success of its first polio vaccine in Gaza.

Negotiations for an exit are still on hold. Neither Israel nor Hamas showed any desire to let him go. On Tuesday, Washington called for a deal. “We are trying to find areas that can start negotiations but they refuse and say that there is nothing to discuss,” said Benyamin Netanyahu, under pressure from Israeli public demonstrations necessary to find an agreement related to the conflicts. Last Sunday, the bodies of six of them were found by the IDF.

Hamas and Tel Aviv intractable

Among its positions, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office indicated the control of the “Philadelphia Corridor”, the buffer zone which separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt, to, it said, prevent the transfer of weapons. The situation angered both Hamas and Cairo. The Palestinian movement, for its part, asked for the total withdrawal of the Israeli army, from the reserve area and from all of Gaza, accusing Tel Aviv “of preventing an agreement from being reached” by this wish. Another point of contention is the number of Palestinian prisoners that Israel took to be released in exchange for Israeli hostages.

One of the mediators of the conflict, Doha believes that the Israeli side “comes to falsify the facts”, believing that its position on the Philadelphia corridor and the veto of the release of some Palestinian prisoners requested by Hamas “will lead to the end of the peaceful effort”.

The negotiations are melting while the fighting at the front continues. Yesterday, an Israeli bomb killed four people hiding in tents in Deir al-Balah. The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that the death toll from the war since October 7 rose to “40,878 martyrs and 94,454 wounded”. The health authority accused the “Israeli occupation [d’avoir] carried out two massacres in Gaza Strip, which led to the arrival of 17 martyrs and 56 wounded in hospitals in the region in 24 hours.

Tel Aviv is also accused by Amnesty International of “war crimes”. The NGO presented yesterday the results of an investigation carried out over 8 months into the destruction in eastern Gaza. According to him, Israel’s goal is to create a buffer zone. The massacres were “unjustified and in violation of international humanitarian law”, denounced Amnesty.

According to his research, “more than 90% of the houses are destroyed or badly damaged”, 59% of the agricultural land is destroyed, the farms have been bulldozed, the apartments have been demolished. Between October 2023 and June 2024, there is talk of “thousands of houses and land left uninhabitable”.

Polio vaccine continues

The destruction worsened the humanitarian situation and the health of the Gazan population. The WHO announced last week that it has reached an agreement with Tel Aviv to launch a vaccination campaign which aims to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio. The first phase in the middle line “completed successfully,” reaching 187,000 children, according to the World Health Organization.

The violence is spreading in the occupied West Bank, which has been the subject of attacks by the Israeli army for the past two weeks. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that five people died on Thursday September 5 in Tubas, in the north of this region. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, justified the need to use “all necessary force”.

But the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese of Italy, described Israel’s actions as “genocidal violence by Israel”. In a new statement, he said that “Israel’s genocidal violence risks spreading out of Gaza and spreading throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.” Apartheid Israel targets Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of a global strategy of elimination, replacement and territorial expansion,” he alleged.