Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on the Israel-Palestine situation
Gaza surrounded, Blinken: “We need a humanitarian pause”
After 27 days of war against Hamas, Israel managed to surround Gaza City. The army itself announced it in the hours in which it returned to Tel Aviv the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to ask Netanyahu’s government for humanitarian pauses useful for bringing more aid into the Strip and creating a climate more favorable to the release of the hostages. For Blinken, it is his second tour in the Middle East since the beginning of the war triggered by the bloody attack by Hamas on 7 October, an activism that confirms the general fear that the conflict could spread.
A clear indication of the next developments will come today fromawaited speech by the powerful leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah: he will speak in the afternoon for the first time since the beginning of the conflict and will make it clear whether his group, allied with Palestinian Hamas and supported by Iran, intends to enter the conflict. Blinken – who has already landed in Tel Aviv – plans to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; After the meeting, he will meet with members of the Israeli war cabinet, President Isaac Herzog and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
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Starting from Washington, he assured his intention to ask Israel to take “concrete measures” to minimize the danger to civilians in Gaza and prevent an escalation of the conflict in the region. Meanwhile, after another night of violence in the West Bank (according to medical sources, another 7 Palestinians killed, over 140 since the start of the conflict) the army made it known that it had entered “another significant phase of the war”: Israeli troops are gathered outside Gaza City; now isolated from the rest of the Strip; Covered by the air force and protected by the navy, soldiers and armored columns also penetrated the city, attacking – according to the military – outposts, headquarters and other Hamas infrastructure.
Conquering the city, the largest in the Strip and a Hamas stronghold, will be a difficult task for the Israeli army: soldiers will have to engage in treacherous urban guerrilla warfare in an environment probably dotted with mines and booby traps; and they will also have to venture into the complicated labyrinth of tunnels, dug over the years by Hamas to hide the militiamen and prepare ambushes. According to Tsahal, 130 “Hamas terrorists” died yesterday afternoon in the clashes; and Israeli soldiers have also died, four more, 23 in total since the beginning of the war. And while Hamas continues to update the toll of Palestinian deaths in Gaza, over 9,000 since the beginning of the conflict, the drama of the hostages remains unresolved: to help identify them the US has also flown drones over the Strip.
The Israeli army also announced that it had killed Mustafa Dalul, commander of the “Sabra Tel al-Hawa” Battalion which since the beginning of the war has had “a central role in organizing combat with the troops in the Strip”. The military spokesperson made this known, according to which “in recent years Dalul has held a series of positions in the Hamas battalions and in the Gaza City brigade”.
War, Erdogan: “Crimes against humanity in Gaza for a month”
“Nothing can excuse what we have witnessed since October 7 and explain this brutality. Crimes against humanity have been committed in Gaza for exactly 28 days.” This was stated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the occasion of the summit of Turkish states, as reported by Anadolu. Erdogan returned to calling for a ceasefire and reiterated the proposal for an “international peace conference” to end the conflict in Israel and Palestine. The Turkish leader added that so far Ankara has sent 10 planes with humanitarian aid destined for Gaza.
War, phone call between the Pope and Abu Mazen
A phone call between Pope Francis and the president of the Palestinian Authority Abu Mazen was held yesterday, late in the afternoon. The Vatican press office confirmed this to ANSA after the news leaked last night to the Palestinian media. According to the Wafa agency, the phone call concerned “the latest developments in Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem” and the Pontiff also expressed sadness for the civilian victims. For his part, the Palestinian leader thanked Pope Francis for his efforts to consolidate peace in the region and underlined the importance of the Vatican continuing to call for a ceasefire
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