Seventeen members of US President Joe Biden's campaign staff wrote a letter to the American leader and called for a long-term ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The newspaper reported this on January 3 Politico.
“As your staff, we believe it is both a moral and an electoral imperative for you to publicly call for an end to the violence,” the publication quoted an excerpt from the address.
In addition, the appeal also calls for Biden to “end unconditional military support for Israel,” as well as for the release of hostages taken captive during the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The newspaper noted that this letter is an example of internal disagreements not only within the US Democratic Party, but also within the Biden campaign over how to approach this conflict.
On the same day, department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US State Department sees no signs of genocide in the Gaza Strip and considers humanitarian assistance to the residents of the Palestinian enclave a priority. This is how he commented on the lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa (RSA) at the International Court of Justice of the United Nations (UN) in The Hague against Israel on charges of genocide.
On December 29, the South African leadership asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to rule that Israel had violated its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention with its actions in the Gaza Strip.
According to the African country, Israel's actions against the residents of the Gaza Strip are genocidal, as they are committed with the goal of “destroying the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.” In response to this, the Israeli Foreign Ministry asked the International Court of Justice to reject South Africa's claims and called them a blood libel.
In response to this, on December 31, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the statements of the South African leadership about signs of genocide in the actions of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip false rantings and empty chatter. According to him, on the contrary, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “acts as morally as possible.”
Earlier, on December 28, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that several civilians, mostly children and women, were killed or injured as a result of shelling at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Also on Wednesday, Israeli aircraft carried out several raids on the center of Khan Yunis.
Prior to this, on December 24, it was reported that 70 people were killed as a result of IDF shelling at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, later, on December 27, it became known that the total number of deaths as a result of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on the Gaza Strip had risen to 21 thousand people.
On December 12, the UN General Assembly (GA) adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone. 153 states, including Russia and China, voted for the resolution, 10 countries voted against it, and another 23 states abstained from voting.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, when Hamas subjected Israel to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, and also invaded border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. That same day, Israel began retaliating against targets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians are seeking to return the borders between the two countries to the lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestine wants to create its own state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and make East Jerusalem its capital. Israel refuses the conditions set.
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