This Thursday, Israel thanked the United States for supporting the war in Gaza with weapons and for vetoing a possible ceasefire before the UN despite international pressure. The National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, has been received in Tel Aviv by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with the aim of both parties to iron out the differences that have arisen between both allied countries regarding the management of the war in the Strip. . Sullivan had, however, to hear that, no matter how much hurry Washington demands, this large-scale military operation, which has already left more than 18,700 dead, will not be over in weeks, but in months, as the Minister of Defense told him. , Yoav Gallant. But from Washington, the spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, suggested that the operation should conclude sooner rather than later. “We all want this to end as soon as possible,” he said. Fighting and shelling remains intense throughout the Palestinian Mediterranean enclave, while the humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of Gazans worsens.
Netanyahu and members of his war cabinet met at a military base with the American delegation. “I greatly appreciate the United States' support for Israel in supplying ammunition to the army and blocking UN attempts to stop the fighting,” the prime minister said. Both parties insisted, according to a statement from the office of the head of the Israeli government, on their commitment to the release of all the hostages who remain in Gaza, more than 130, although about fifteen have already been presumed dead.
“Our heroic fighters have not fallen in vain. From the deep pain of its fall, we are more determined than ever to continue fighting until Hamas is eliminated, until absolute victory,” said the prime minister. His words come after the ambush set by Islamist militants in northern Gaza on Tuesday, in which nine soldiers were killed.
Previously, Gallant had told Sullivan that, despite pressure from the United States, the armed conflict cannot be concluded in the short term. “Hamas is a terrorist organization (…) with an infrastructure underground and on the ground that is not easy to destroy. It will require a period of time that will be more than several months, but we will overcome and destroy them,” the Defense Minister told him, according to a statement.
The administration led by President Joe Biden, which has occasionally urged Israel to conclude its operation, endorsed Gallant's idea and tried not to put pressure on its ally. “How long will that take? I can't predict it,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington. “It has to take all the time [las autoridades israelíes] believe necessary to eliminate the threat [de Hamás]. But obviously we all want this to end as soon as possible.” In any case, the newspaper The New York Times attributed to four unnamed official sources the information that Sullivan asked Israel for its military to reduce the ground war in Gaza before the end of the year. During his visit, the National Security Advisor addressed the possibility of moving to a “lower intensity” in operations, according to White House sources cited by Reuters, reports Iker Seisdedos.
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Last week, the United States vetoed a possible humanitarian ceasefire in the UN Security Council. But then, Biden warned that his ally is losing support due to the results of the intense and indiscriminate bombings, which have already caused more than 18,500 deaths. Washington also asks Netanyahu not to close the door on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) being part of Gaza's future once Israel ends Hamas, which is its main objective.
The high commissioner of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned that the population of the Strip, up to 2.3 million inhabitants in total, is now overcrowded in less than a third of the territory. original, almost all towards the south, next to the border with Egypt. There, he said during a speech in Geneva, they feel “betrayed” and “abandoned” by the international community. “There is no place to feel safe in Gaza,” Lazzarini deplored as he called, once again, for a humanitarian ceasefire.
New communications blackout
Meanwhile, the war continues its pace in the north and south of the Strip. 45% of the 29,000 bombs dropped by Israel from the air during the conflict are so-called unguided bombs, according to a US intelligence source cited by CNN. The territory, where 1.8 million displaced people live in very precarious conditions, with almost no food, water, or electricity, suffered a new communications blackout this Thursday, the fifth since the war began, the Red Crescent warned. This, they add, not only prevented communication between the teams on the ground, but also directly affected the rescue and transfer of the wounded and sick.
In 69 days of war, Israel has killed more than 18,700 people, but has failed to hunt down any of Hamas' top leaders in the Strip. A sign that he needs to score a victory is the latest initiative in the form of pamphlets launched from the air in which he asks for citizen collaboration in exchange for money. “Think about your future. Confidentiality guaranteed,” warns the pamphlet, spread on social networks and in the Israeli press, in which the faces of four senior militia leaders appear, in order of importance, along with the price that Israel would pay if the information provided would lead to his capture.
First of all, you see the face of Yahia Sinwar, for which they are offering 400,000 dollars (about 365,000 euros). He is considered the top Hamas official in Gaza, whom some hostages reportedly saw in the tunnels before being freed during the truce at the end of November and whose house in Khan Younis the army said it had surrounded last week without knowing if he would be there. inside. Following him, in order of importance in the paper distributed, is his brother Mohamed Sinwar ($300,000), Rafaa Salameh (200,000) and Mohamed Deif (100,000). In order to continue facing the military campaign – which began on October 7 when Hamas militants murdered some 1,200 people in Israeli territory – this country approved on Wednesday an increase of some 7.16 billion euros in its budget.
Violence also continues in the West Bank, especially in Jenin, where the army killed at least 12 Palestinians in what is the most intense and prolonged incursion since the war began. One of them is a teenager murdered while he was at the Jalil Suleiman hospital in that town, the scene of a three-day military operation, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), whose team witnessed the events without being able to save his life. . Furthermore, this NGO adds, the soldiers stopped ambulances, forced the drivers to get out and, after stripping them, made them kneel in the street. “Since October 7 (first day of war), we have seen Israeli forces fire live bullets into the hospital, fire tear gas, block ambulances, humiliate and harass medical staff, and now shoot and kill someone in the hospital.” hospital facility,” laments the humanitarian organization through the social network X (formerly Twitter).
In an unusual reaction on the part of the army, the institution announced that it had removed from the mission that they have been carrying out for three days in the occupied city of Jenin (West Bank) several soldiers who recorded videos in a mosque singing Jewish songs and mocking Islam. and the Palestinians. Recordings of this type come to light every day. In them, the uniformed men, mainly in Gaza, celebrate the blowing up of buildings, humiliate detainees, assault businesses or homes and laugh at the humanitarian crisis that Gazans are suffering due to the blockade that Israel subjects the Strip to. “The soldiers acted against the codes of conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) within a religious establishment,” which is why “they were immediately removed” for “serious” misconduct and contrary to “the values.” ” of the army, for which they will be punished, they announced on the social network X.
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