Gaza conflict in danger of spiralling out of control, says US

The conflict in the Gaza Strip is in danger of spiralling out of control, creating instablity throughout the Middle East.

Explosions light up the sky above Gaza City as Israeli forces shell the Palestinian enclave on Monday night. Picture: AFP

The conflict in the Gaza Strip is in danger of spiralling out of control, creating instability throughout the Middle East, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has warned.

Mark Milley’s comments came as the Israeli army launched an ­artillery barrage into Lebanon in response to rocket fire and reports of Lebanese militants testing the Jewish state’s border defences.

As the death toll from a week of violence in the Gaza Strip and ­Israel passed 200, General Milley said the “level of violence is destabilising beyond the limited area of Gaza”. “Whatever the military ­objectives are out there, they need to be balanced against other consequences,” he said.

The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting overnight on Tuesday amid a flurry of diplomacy aimed at stemming hostilities. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ­remained defiant, saying Israel would “continue striking at the terrorist targets”.

The emergency Security Council session — the fourth since the conflict escalated — was called after the US, a key Israel ally, blocked the adoption of a joint statement calling for a halt to the violence for the third time in a week. US President Joe Biden, having resisted joining other world leaders and much of his own Democratic Party in calling for an immediate end to hostilities, told Mr Netanyahu on Monday night (Tuesday AEST) he backed a ceasefire, but stopped short of ­demanding one.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also failed to demand a ceasefire, but urged Israel and the Palestinians to “protect civilians, especially children”, and reiterated that Israel “as a democracy has an extra burden” to do so.

“We’ve been working intensively behind the scenes,” Mr Blinken said during a visit to Denmark. “We are ready to lend support, if the parties seek a ceasefire.”

He reiterated Washington’s support for Israel’s right “to defend itself”, stressing there was “no equivalence between a terrorist group indiscriminately firing rockets at civilians and a country defending its people from those attacks”. “So we call on Hamas and other groups in Gaza to end the rocket attacks immediately.”

Mr Blinken later called Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to discuss “US efforts to bring an end to the violence” and voiced “deep concern” over a surge of ­violence inside Israel between Jewish and Arab citizens. Israel launched its air campaign on the Gaza Strip on May 10 after the ­enclave’s rulers, the Islamist group Hamas, fired rockets towards the Jewish state, an escalation sparked by unrest in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

In total, 212 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 61 children, and more than 1400 wounded. In Israel, 10 people have died, including one child, with hundreds injured, according to officials on both sides.

The Israeli barrage of Gaza continued overnight on Monday, setting the sky ablaze over the coastal enclave.

Hours before, strikes had knocked out the only COVID-19 testing laboratory in the strip and damaged the office of Qatar’s Red Crescent. The rate of positive coronavirus tests in Gaza has been among the highest in the world, at 28 per cent. Hospitals in the poverty-stricken territory, which has been under Israeli blockade for ­almost 15 years, have been overwhelmed.

The security crisis risks precipitating a humanitarian disaster, with the UN saying nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced and a further 2500 have lost their homes in the bombardments.

Palestinian militants have fired about 3350 rockets towards Israel in the heaviest exchange of fire in years. Hamas has threatened more rocket strikes on Tel Aviv if bombing of residential areas does not stop.

Israeli fighter jets also hit what the army called the Metro, its term for Hamas’ underground tunnels, which Israel has previously ­acknowledged run in part through civilian areas.

In the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas urged Washington to act against “Israel’s aggression”, in a meeting with US envoy for Israeli and Palestinian affairs Hady Amr.

Mr Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said he had spoken to his Israeli counterpart and the Egyptian government — a key intermediary — saying that Washington was engaged in “quiet, intensive diplomacy”.

French and Egyptian presidents Emmanuel Macron and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are pushing for a ceasefire and aim to get the backing of Jordan. Another channel has been opened, via the UN, with the help of Qatar and Egypt.

European Union foreign ministers were also due to hold talks on the violence, with the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, conducting “intense” diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the fighting.

The conflict was sparked after clashes broke out at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound — one of Islam’s holiest sites — on May 7 after Israeli forces moved in on worshippers. This followed a crackdown against protests over planned expulsions of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.

Israel is also trying to contain inter-communal violence ­between Jews and Arab-Israelis, as well as unrest in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian authorities say Israeli forces have killed 20 Palestinians since May 10.

Mr Abbas’ Fatah party has called for a “day of anger” and a general strike on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), a call echoed in ­Israeli Arab towns and in “mixed” towns in Israel, where tension between Jews and Arabs are high.

AFP