UN Secretary-General António Guterres has once again called for a permanent end to hostilities between Israel and the Islamic terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Intense negotiations are underway to extend the ceasefire, which we very much welcome. But we believe we need a true humanitarian ceasefire,” Guterres said on Wednesday at a UN Security Council meeting in New York. Israel immediately rejected the request.
“Anyone who supports a ceasefire fundamentally supports Hamas’ continued reign of terror in Gaza,” Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the UN’s most powerful body in New York on Wednesday. Israel cannot protect its citizens with a ceasefire.
You cannot call for a ceasefire and at the same time claim that you are looking for a solution to the conflict. The militant Hamas is not a partner for reliable peace. “Don’t you see the contradiction here – that the demand for a ceasefire and peace is a paradox?” Erdan continued. There can only be an end to the violence if Hamas hands over all the hostages and all the terrorists involved in the attack on Israel on October 7th.
Guterres, for his part, stated: “The people of Gaza are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe before the eyes of the world. operations in Gaza than the total number of children in Gaza years since my tenure as Secretary-General have been killed by a party to the conflict.” Four out of every five people in Gaza were expelled from their homes. 111 UN staff were also killed in Israeli attacks – the highest UN toll ever “45 percent of all homes in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed,” Guterres complained.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the Security Council meeting that the Palestinian people face an “existential threat” in the conflict. “Israel does not have the right to self-defense against a people who occupy it,” said al-Maliki.
In the war between Israel and radical Islamist Hamas, which has lasted more than seven weeks, a ceasefire came into force last Friday and is expected to end on Thursday morning. Since the ceasefire came into force, a total of 60 Israeli women and children, as well as another 21 foreign hostages, mostly guest workers from Thailand, have been released by Hamas under the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the US. In return, Israel has so far released 180 Palestinian prisoners from its prisons.
Shortly before the end of the ceasefire in the Gaza war, intense negotiations over an extension took place on Wednesday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised on Wednesday, after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, “to do everything in our power to extend the pause”. At the same time, we will discuss with Israel how the country can achieve the goal of never repeating terrorist attacks like the one on October 7th.
Blinken also expressed his conviction that the continuation of the ceasefire was also in the interests of the Israelis. “They are also focusing intensely on bringing their people home,” the American said, referring to the Israeli hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip. According to his own statements, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will be in Israel again this Thursday and will hold talks with the local government. It is his third visit since the start of the conflict.
Islamist Hamas said it was working hard on a possible extension, a spokesperson told Al Jazeera news channel. On Wednesday night, 10 Israeli hostages would be released by Hamas, in exchange for the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
However, it was still unclear by early evening whether negotiations on extending the ceasefire would be successful. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that fighting would resume when “this phase of the return of our hostages is complete.” He also reiterated that he wanted to maintain the war objective of destroying Hamas.
In its brutal October 7 attack, Hamas abducted around 240 people, including many children. Hundreds of fighters from the militia, classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, entered Israel and, according to Israeli data, killed around 1,200 people. In response, Israel massively bombed targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and the ground for weeks. According to Hamas figures, which cannot be independently verified, close to 15,000 people were killed in Palestinian territory.