Almost ten weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, pressure is growing on Israel to show more consideration for the civilian population in its fight against Islamist Hamas. Criticism of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank is also growing. According to one report, the US is already delaying arms shipments out of fear they could end up in the hands of radical colonists. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced entry bans on radical settlers.
US President Joe Biden himself called on Israel to be “more careful” in its military action in the Gaza Strip. “I want them to focus on how they can save civilian lives. I don’t want them to stop persecuting Hamas, but to be more careful,” Biden said on Thursday. The US president commented on the costs of prescription drugs on the sidelines of an event. He responded to a journalist's question about whether he wanted Israel to reduce its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
When it comes to the question of what will happen next in Gaza after the war, a rift is also opening between Israel and its allies. Although a two-state solution continues to be seen internationally as the best path to peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, Israeli government officials have once again cast doubt on such a solution.
According to the US, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be subject to a common government. US President Joe Biden's security adviser Jake Sullivan told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 that the Palestinian government must be “transformed and revitalized” to achieve this. The government, also known as the Autonomous Authority, currently controls the West Bank, while the radical Islamic group Hamas governs the Gaza Strip.
According to the White House, Sullivan spoke with Israeli leadership about a possible transition to “lower-intensity military operations” in Gaza. This is a question for “sometime in the near future,” National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said in Washington on Thursday. “I don’t want to commit to a specific time.” They also don't want to tell Islamic Hamas what will happen to them in the coming weeks or months. Kirby did not say what such a military operation would look like and referred to the Israeli government.
According to the White House, Sullivan wanted to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet on Thursday about the next phase of military operations in the Gaza Strip. It’s about being more precise and reducing harm to the civilian population. Opening the Kerem Shalom border crossing for aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip should also be on the agenda.
The Israeli Defense Minister is convinced that the war between Israel and Hamas will last “more than a few months”. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that was built over a decade to combat Israel,” Defense Minister Joav Gallant said Thursday at the meeting with Sullivan in Tel Aviv, according to his office. Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, “has built underground and above-ground infrastructure,” which is why it is not easy to destroy it, Gallant said. Ultimately, however, Israel will win and destroy Hamas.
The day before, Netanyahu clearly rejected calls for a ceasefire. “We will continue until the end, until victory, until the destruction of Hamas, even in the face of international pressure,” he told soldiers on Wednesday, according to a statement from the government press office. “Nothing will stop us.”
According to a report by news channel CNN, around 40-45 percent of the air-to-ground munitions launched by Israel in the Gaza war are not precisely guided. The North American broadcaster based its information on intelligence information. Israel has used a total of around 29,000 rounds of ammunition against targets on the ground since October 7. Unguided munitions are typically less accurate and can pose a greater danger to civilians, the report states.
Israeli military spokeswoman Keren Hajioff said on Wednesday that the military plans its operations very carefully and uses special ammunition to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. US President Joe Biden had previously criticized that Israel was starting to lose support due to its “indiscriminate bombing”.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in Israel on October 7th. More than 1,200 people were killed and around 240 hostages were taken to Gaza. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and began a ground offensive in late October. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, around 18,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip so far.
According to a newspaper report, the US is reluctant to hand over more than 27,000 rifles destined for the Israeli police. The government is concerned that the weapons could end up in the hands of radical settlers in the West Bank, the Wall Street Journal wrote on Thursday (local time), citing unnamed government officials. Israel's previous assurances that the shotguns would only remain with the police were therefore not sufficient. The US State Department therefore called for concrete measures to curb violence against Palestinians carried out by settlers in the West Bank, the newspaper said.
The Prime Minister of the Palestinian government sees a concrete plan for a two-state solution as a prerequisite for peace in the Middle East. “Give us a political horizon,” demanded Mohammed Shtajjeh in an interview with the Portal news agency on Thursday. What the Palestinians need is an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the implementation of a two-state solution. So far, the US has failed to effectively assert its influence. They are the country with the most influence in the region and can appeal to Israel to end the war.
The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Tzipi Hotovely, on the other hand, excludes a two-state solution after the war in Gaza. In an interview with British news channel Sky News, when asked repeatedly, she said that a two-state solution was “absolutely out of the question” in the period after the Gaza war. The Oslo peace process failed because Palestinians never wanted their own state alongside Israel, but rather one that included Israeli territory, said the former far-right politician, who has held several ministerial positions in her country. Christmas. The Israeli Minister for Social Equality, Amichai Chikli, from the ruling Likud party, did not even rule out the creation of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.
According to a media report, Israel asked Egypt to broker a new hostage deal with Hamas and negotiate a ceasefire. Part of that agreement should also include a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel, Arabic-language newspaper Al Arabi Al Jadid reported on Thursday. Hamas confirmed that mediators were in “serious discussions about a ceasefire.” A senior Hamas official told the German Press Agency on Thursday that there would be no exchange of hostages and prisoners before a ceasefire comes into force.