- LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- American Blinken lands in Tel Aviv to meet the Israeli Prime Minister
- The deaths of Palestinian and Israeli children “hit me deep in the gut,” Blinken says
- The US says pauses in fighting will not prevent Israel from defending itself
- Israel says its fighter jets, artillery and navy struck Hamas targets overnight, killing several militants
GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 3 (Portal) – Top United States diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Friday to press for humanitarian pauses in the Gaza war as Israel said it had the Palestinian enclave’s largest city and the focus of its action is to destroy Hamas surrounded.
On his second trip to Israel in a month, Blinken will discuss concrete steps with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to minimize harm to civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip, where food, fuel, water and medicine are in short supply.
The White House, meanwhile, said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localized, insisting they would not deter Israel from defending itself.
“When I see a Palestinian child – a boy, a girl – being pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed building, it hits me in the gut just as much as seeing a child from Israel or anywhere else does,” Blinken said before leaving for Israel to reporters. “So that’s something we have to respond to, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Newly appointed US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew traveled with Blinken to Tel Aviv.
At least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel, according to Gaza health authorities.
Israel said Hamas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostage in the attacks on October 7, the deadliest day in its 75-year history.
On Thursday, Netanyahu said the military had surrounded Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, and was advancing. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Friday that its fighter jets, artillery and navy struck Hamas targets overnight, killing several militants, including Mustafa Dalul, a Hamas commander who was said to have led the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas.
Mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians and acute shortages of basic services have increased calls from global leaders for a pause in fighting or a ceasefire.
The United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab states with diplomatic ties with Israel, said on Friday it would work “tirelessly” towards an immediate ceasefire and warned that the risk of regional spillover and further escalation was real.
Israel has rejected those calls and said it is targeting Hamas militants, whom it accuses of deliberately hiding among the population and civilian buildings. The White House also rejected calls for a ceasefire.
Blinken will meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman on Saturday. In a statement, Safadi said Israel must end the war on Gaza, where he said it was committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege.
Palestinians in great danger
[1/8]Smoke rises after Israeli attacks in Gaza City, October 30, 2023. Portal/Mohammed Al-Masri ACKNOWLEDGES LICENSE RIGHTS
As the conflict enters its fourth week, over a third of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are non-functional and many have been converted into makeshift refugee camps.
“The situation is beyond catastrophic,” the charity Medical Aid for Palestine said, describing crowded corridors and many medics who were themselves bereaved and homeless.
A group of independent United Nations human rights experts warned that Palestinians in Gaza face a “major risk of genocide.”
Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva called the UN rapporteur’s comments “regrettable and deeply worrying” and blamed Hamas for the civilian deaths. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a determination of genocide could only be made by a competent UN judicial authority.
Hamas fighters emerge from tunnels
As Israel steps up its attack on Hamas, United Nations, Washington and Middle Eastern diplomats have begun floating ideas for a post-Hamas Gaza Strip – assuming Israel manages to close the Iranian-backed militant group who has ruled the enclave since 2007.
So far, Israel has failed to find a final solution to the conflict, and a source familiar with the matter said discussions so far include the deployment of a multinational force, a Palestinian-led interim government that would exclude Hamas, and a stopgap security solution and governance include role of neighboring Arab states and temporary UN surveillance of the territory.
Military victory is unlikely to be easy for Israel.
Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel’s military engineers, said troops encountered mines and booby traps in Gaza. “Hamas has learned and prepared well,” he said.
Israel said it lost 18 soldiers in the offensive. Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, said in a televised address that Israel’s death toll in Gaza was much higher than the military had announced. “Your soldiers will return in black bags,” he said.
Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad fighters emerged from tunnels to fire on tanks and then disappeared back into the network, residents said, with videos from both groups showing.
Two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity that the U.S. flew intelligence-gathering drones over Gaza to help search for hostages. Thailand said it was in contact with Iran and other governments that could contact Hamas to secure the safe release of nearly two dozen Thai hostages.
The Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt was due to open for limited evacuations on Friday under a Qatar-brokered deal aimed at letting some foreign passport holders, their relatives and some wounded Gazans out of the enclave.
According to border officials, more than 700 foreign citizens left for Egypt via Rafah on the previous two days. Dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were also expected to cross the border. Israel asked foreign countries to send hospital ships for them.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Dan Williams, Emily Rose, Maytaal Angel in Jerusalem, Clauda Tanios in Dubai, Patricia Zengerle, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington; additional reporting from Portal offices worldwide; writing by Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry; Editing by Diane Craft and Miral Fahmy
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