Israeli PM Netanyahu OKs new Gaza cease-fire talks amid pressure

30 March, 2024 | Filed under: All News,more news,RECENT POSTS | Posted by: Abdillahi

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved new discussions on a cease-fire in Gaza, as his country continues to violate the recent U.N. Security Council resolution urging an immediate cease-fire and the World Court ordered it prevent enforced starvation of Palestinians and to ensure vital humanitarian aid reached the blockaded enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the voting session for the impeachment of Hadash-Ta party MP Ofer Cassif in Jerusalem, Feb. 19, 2024. (EPA File Pho

But despite a binding United Nations Security Council resolution this week demanding an “immediate cease-fire,” Israel continued to carry out attacks on Friday, including around hospitals.

Regional fallout from the conflict also flared, with Israel saying it killed a Hezbollah rocket commander in Lebanon, and several Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria strikes that a war monitor blamed on Israel.

Netanyahu’s office said new talks on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release will take place in Doha and Cairo “in the coming days… with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations,” days after they appeared stalled.

In its order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said: “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but… famine is setting in.”

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, posted on X that the ruling was “a stark reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man made + worsening.”

The court had ruled in January that Israel must facilitate “urgently needed” humanitarian aid to Gaza and prevent genocidal acts, but Israel rejected the case brought by South Africa.

Throughout the coastal territory, dozens of people were killed overnight, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.

Among the dead were 12 people killed in a home in the southern city of Rafah, which has been regularly bombed ahead of a mooted Israeli ground operation there.

Men worked under the light of mobile phones to free people trapped under debris after an air strike, AFPTV images showed.

The ICJ ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay” the supply “of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”

On Monday the U.N. Security Council demanded an “immediate cease-fire” in Gaza, the release of hostages held by Hamas, and “ensuring humanitarian access.”

Member states are obliged to abide by such resolutions, but the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said nothing has changed on the ground.

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required have been allowed in since October when Israel placed Gaza under near-total siege.

With limited ground access, several nations have staged airdrops, and a sea corridor from Cyprus has delivered its first food aid.

Heavy damage

The U.N. says Gaza’s health system is collapsing “due to ongoing hostilities and access constraints.”

Israeli troops first raided Al-Shifa in November, before Israel in January announced it had “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure in northern Gaza.

Netanyahu has said troops “are holding the northern Gaza Strip” and also the southern city of Khan Younis, amid heavy fighting.

“We have bisected the Strip and we are preparing to enter Rafah,” he said Thursday.

Netanyahu is under domestic pressure over his failure to bring home all of the hostages seized by Hamas on Oct. 7. Israel says about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead.

Near Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, troops carried out attacks, killing dozens backed by air support, the army said Thursday.

Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have massed around another Khan Younis health facility, the Nasser Hospital, the Gaza health ministry said.

An analysis of satellite images shows heavily damaged areas around the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals.

Deadliest toll

Since the Gaza war began, Israel has increased its strikes in Syria, targeting army positions and Iran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a key Hamas ally.

A Britain-based war monitor said Israeli air strikes Friday in north Syria killed at least 42 people, six from Hezbollah and 36 Syrian soldiers.

Israel’s military said it killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit, in an air strike in south Lebanon Friday.

U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators have tried to secure a truce in Gaza, but those talks had appeared deadlocked more than halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Tensions have risen between Netanyahu and Washington, which provides billions of dollars in military aid but has grown increasingly vocal about the war’s impact on civilians.

Washington has also raised the issue of Gaza’s post-war rule. It has suggested a future role for the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas approved the new government of prime minister Mohammed Mustafa, who said his cabinet will work on “visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza.”

Source:dailysabah.com

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