The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, stated this Friday that “this is not the time for neutrality” and that everyone who wants lasting peace in the region “must condemn and isolate” the group. Palestinian Islamist Hamas.
“This is not a time for neutrality or a false equivalence or excuses for the inexcusable,” Austin said at a press conference in Tel Aviv with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
The American politician has also assured that the Pentagon is prepared to send more support to Israel “if necessary.”
“US security assistance to Israel will flow at the speed of war,” Austin said.
Abbas warns Blinken that displacement of civilians “would be a second Nakba”
For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the displacement of the population of the Gaza Strip would mean “a second Nakba”, alluding to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians . who fled or were expelled during the conflict unleashed after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
In a meeting with Blinken in Amman, the capital of Jordan, Abbas rejected “the displacement of our people from the Gaza Strip, because that would be a second Nakba for our people,” according to a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
He also conveyed to Blinken , who was in Tel Aviv yesterday to show the United States’ “unwavering” support for Israel, the need to “immediately stop Israeli aggression,” which is causing “a humanitarian catastrophe” in the Strip.
Israel and Hamas are committing war crimes, according to the UN
Both Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas are committing war crimes, the former by blocking the entry of all types of supplies into Gaza, including water and food, and the latter by the summary execution and abduction of civilians.
This was denounced today by the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, for whom she warned that “using the starvation of civilians as a method of war, depriving them of goods essential for their survival, is defined as a war crime under international law,” in reference to the total blockade imposed by Israel against Gaza.
He has also pointed out that “taking hostages and the summary execution of civilians by Gaza is obviously also prohibited by international law and are war crimes.”
The Arab League today asked the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to “exercise his political weight” to “prevent a new war crime that Israel plans to commit,” following the Israeli Army’s warning to evacuate the northern Strip. Gaza facing an imminent ground incursion.
The difficult humanitarian situation in Gaza becomes more complicated
Chaos and confusion spread today among civilians in the northern Strip and Gaza City after Israel announced that they must evacuate to the south of the enclave.
Many have no instructions or know where to go, while Hamas urges them not to move and “ignore Israeli psychological warfare.”
This was confirmed to EFE by a resident of the refugee enclave with his family in a school of Christian nuns in the capital of Gaza, who is looking for ways to move to the south of the Strip, while the Israeli Army continues its bombings and accelerates its offensive against Hamas, which It already results in at least 1,572 deaths and 7,262 injuries.
The Israeli Army denounced today that the Islamist movement Hamas is installing barriers to stop the evacuation of civilians to the south of the Gaza Strip.
EFE asked a military spokesperson what exact time the deadline for the evacuation of civilians ends, and is awaiting a response.
“It is a war zone, we are trying to give them time,” said a military spokesman.
The fact that Israel requests this evacuation is interpreted as a sign that the start of the Israeli ground offensive is imminent.
UN organizations ask Israel to cancel evacuation order
The evacuation order was issued after the Israeli armed forces informed the United Nations this Thursday that the entire population of the northern part of the Strip had to leave that territory in the next 24 hours.
This involves relocating at least more than a million people, something that the UN sees as “impossible” under current conditions and that can have “serious humanitarian consequences.”
Like the rest of the Gazan population, all UN personnel are affected by this ultimatum, as well as the 440,000 displaced people who have sought refuge in the schools and other facilities that the organization managed in that Palestinian territory.
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) has decided to move its main operations center and its non-local staff to the south of the strip, to continue its humanitarian work there.
The UN so far estimates that 23 humanitarian workers have died in Israeli attacks on Gaza. Eleven were health personnel and twelve employees of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
WHO says evacuating hospitals “goes beyond cruelty”
The World Health Organization also considers it impossible to evacuate the hospitals in northern Gaza.
The WHO says that many patients would die during transport and that hospitals in the south do not have the capacity to care for those who would arrive.
“Moving very sick patients, including children, who are completely dependent on life-saving medical support to survive, and asking medical staff to evacuate, goes beyond cruelty,” said organization spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.
According to the WHO, the Gaza Strip’s health system is at breaking point and time is running out to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.
The absence of fuel would have “a devastating impact on the most vulnerable patients, including the injured requiring surgery, patients in intensive care and newborns in incubators.”
Egyptian authorities have offered a buffer zone in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, for displaced people fleeing Israeli bombing, an offer that Israel reportedly rejected.
For its part, Hamas has refused to allow Palestinian civilians to leave the enclave through a humanitarian corridor proposed by Egypt. According to the organization, the exit “would force the Palestinian people to abandon their homeland” and would imply a new exodus.
T he Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al Sisi , stated yesterday that the inhabitants of Gaza must “stand firm and remain in their land,” in reference to the proposal for this corridor.
The humanitarian corridor would be through the Rafah crossing, which connects Gaza to the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and is the only border crossing in the Palestinian enclave that is not controlled by Israel.
That crossing has been bombed on at least three occasions in recent days, but Egypt assures that it remains operational.
Hamas says 13 Israeli hostages killed in bombings
The al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist group Hamas, announced today that 13 Israeli hostages , of the hundred believed to be in their possession, have died due to the Israeli Army’s bombing of Gaza in the last 24 hours.
According to a statement from the Islamist group, six of the hostages died from airstrikes in the northern district of the Strip, “in two separate places”, and another seven died in three different places in the province.
Last Monday, Hamas announced that four Israeli hostages had been killed by Israeli airstrikes, bringing the number of captives dead to 17.
The Israeli armed forces have bombed some 750 targets in Gaza overnight, mainly Hamas barracks, command posts, weapons depots and tunnels.
The Hebrew Army has reported that in an attack carried out by dozens of fighter-bombers, buildings where senior officials of the Islamist organization lived and that were used as command centers, as well as military communication centers and underground tunnels and 12 targets, have also been destroyed. of Hamas located in buildings with many floors.
Jordanian forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters at the border
Jordanian security forces today fired tear gas against “hundreds” of protesters on the border between the Arab country and the occupied West Bank, where a protest is taking place in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Participants in the march and official sources have confirmed to EFE the clashes, which occurred in the middle of the visit to the area by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
Despite the response of the Jordanian authorities, the protesters continue to advance towards the border, while the security forces are trying to prevent the participants from crossing the divide, Majd al Freij, a participant in the march, told EFE.
The Jordanian Ministry of the Interior on Thursday banned demonstrations in support of Palestine in the Jordan Valley and in the border areas with Israel for “security” reasons, given the escalation of the war between Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip. and the Jewish State.
By Web Desk
