Israel-Hamas war: Israel considers truce talks as UN slams lack of aid in Gaza Strip
Fresh talks in Paris have raised truce hopes as concern deepens over the desperate situation faced by civilians in the devastated Gaza Strip. Follow updates. Warning: Graphic.
Israel’s war cabinet has discussed the next steps for negotiations towards a hostage deal and ceasefire in its war with Hamas, as concern deepens over the increasingly desperate situation faced by civilians in the devastated Gaza Strip.
An Israeli delegation that had travelled to Paris for fresh talks on a hostage deal returned to brief the country’s war cabinet on Saturday night, according to an official and local media reports.
National security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a televised interview shortly before the meeting that the “delegation has returned from Paris – there is probably room to move towards an agreement”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the meeting would discuss the “next steps in the negotiations”.
Local media later reported that the meeting had concluded with the cabinet agreeing to send a delegation to Qatar in the coming days to continue the talks.
As with a previous week-long truce in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed, Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been spearheading efforts to secure a deal.
Domestic pressure on the government to bring the captives home has also steadily mounted, with thousands gathering in Tel Aviv Saturday night at what has come to be known as “Hostages Square” to demand swifter action.
“We keep telling you: bring them back to us! And no matter how,” said Avivit Yablonka, 45, whose sister Hanan was kidnapped on October 7.
Anti-government protesters were also out in Tel Aviv, blocking streets and calling for Netanyahu’s government to step down as authorities deployed water cannon and mounted officers in a bid to disperse them.
“They are not choosing the right path for us. Whether it’s (the) economy, whether it’s peace with our neighbours,” 54-year-old software company CEO Moti Kushner said of the government, adding “it looks like they never want to end the war”.
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‘EXTREME PERIL’: UN SLAMS LACK OF AID IN GAZA
More than 100 people were reported killed early Saturday in overnight strikes across Gaza, as Israel’s spy chief was in Paris for talks seeking to “unblock” progress towards a truce and the return of hostages held by Palestinian militants.
The Paris negotiations come after a plan for a post-war Gaza unveiled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew criticism from key ally the United States and was rejected by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on Friday.
They also come as fears for civilians in the territory are deepening, with the UN warning of the growing risk of famine and its main aid body for Palestinians, UNWRA, saying early on Saturday that Gazans were “in extreme peril while the world watches on”.
Footage surfaced showing distraught Gazans queuing for food in the territory’s devastated north on Friday and staging a protest decrying their living conditions.
“Look, we are fighting each other over rice,” said Jabalia resident Ahmad Atef Safi.
“Where are we supposed to go?” “We have no water, no flour and we are very tired because of hunger. Our backs and eyes hurt because of fire and smoke,” fellow Jabalia resident Oum Wajdi Salha said.
“We can’t stand on our feet because of hunger and lack of food.”
In statement on social media platform X, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said: “Without adequate food and water supplies, as well as health and nutrition services, the elevated risk of famine in #Gaza is projected to increase.”
It comes as the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 29,606 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory during the war between militants and Israel.
The toll includes at least 92 fatalities in the past 24 hours, while 69,737 people have been injured since the conflict began on October 7, a statement read.
ISRAEL’S PLAN FOR POST-WAR GAZA DRAWS CRITICISM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled a plan for post-war Gaza that drew criticism from key ally the United States and was rejected by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on Friday.
The new plan came after air strikes targeted homes in southern Gaza, and as an Israeli delegation arrived in Paris hoping to “unblock” truce discussions.
Netanyahu’s plan envisages civil affairs in a post-war Gaza being run by Palestinian officials without links to Hamas.
It also lays out that, even after the war, the Israeli army would have “indefinite freedom” to operate throughout Gaza to prevent any resurgence of terror activity, according to the proposals.
The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority and drew criticism from the United States.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington had been “consistently clear with our Israeli counterparts” about what was needed in post-war Gaza.
“The Palestinian people should have a voice and a vote … through a revitalised Palestinian Authority,” he said.
“We don’t believe in a reduction of the size of Gaza … we don’t want to see any forcible displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza and, of course, we don’t want to see Gaza dominated or ruled or governed over by Hamas.”
Asked about the plan during a visit to Argentina, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would “reserve judgement” until seeing all the details, but said Washington was against any “reoccupation” of Gaza after the war.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan dismissed Netanyahu’s plan as unworkable. “When it comes to the day after in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu is presenting ideas which he knows fully well will never succeed,” Hamdan told reporters in Beirut.
Israeli air strikes targeted homes in southern Gaza, witnesses said on Friday, with the health ministry saying more than 100 people were killed over the previous day.
Israeli bombardment destroyed one house and left a gaping hole in the earth east of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where about 1.4 million Gazans have converged in a futile search to escape the fighting.
“We were sleeping in our house when we heard the sound of a missile,” said Abdul Hamid Abu el-Enein. “We rushed to the site and found people martyred and injured” in the strike which “completely erased” the two-storey home.
Israel has threatened to send troops into Rafah, drawing international criticism.
More than four months of fighting and bombardment have flattened much of Gaza and pushed its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine as disease spreads, according to the United Nations.
“We have reached the point of extreme poverty and hunger,” 62-year-old Zarifa Hamad, a displaced woman living in a camp in northern Gaza, told AFP. “Children are dying of hunger.”
AIR STRIKE KILLS FAMILY OF PALESTINIAN COMEDIAN
An Israeli air strike on Friday destroyed the home of a well-known Palestinian comedian in Gaza, killing at least 23 and injuring dozens more, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Mahmoud Zuaiter’s family home in the Deir al-Balah area of central Gaza was flattened, with most of the victims women and children, it added.
Zuaiter, who was injured in the attack, has more than 1.2 million fans on Instagram while his videos have been seen widely on YouTube.
AFP interviewed him in early 2014 after a Palestinian parody of a car advert by Belgian martial artist and actor Jean-Claude van Damme went viral. In the advert, Van Damme is shown straddling two moving trucks. The Gaza version is similar but involves two cars being pushed because of a lack of petrol.
In a video posted online after Friday’s attack, Zuaiter, who is in his late 30s, is seen holding an injured child.
“I have spoken strongly against anyone leaving Gaza and I was praying to God, please don’t force me to leave Gaza … because I love Gaza and its people so much,” he is heard saying.
“But it seems they want us to leave Gaza.” He then bursts into tears.
AFP contacted the Israeli military, which asked for coordinates and the timing of the strike, without making any further comment.
ISRAEL STEPS UP ATTACKS IN GAZA
The US and Arab countries have ramped up ceasefire talks as Israel launched deadly air strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge.
Another 97 people were killed over the past 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health ministry, as a US envoy was in Israel for fresh efforts to secure a truce.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk held productive meetings in Egypt and Israel.
He said that Washington remains fully committed to doing everything to achieve a hostage deal in exchange for an extended pause in the fighting in Gaza.
Mr Kirby refused to confirm a media report saying that CIA Director Bill Burns was going to meet in Paris with Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli officials.
“I can’t confirm the specific reports about Paris but I can absolutely reassure you that discussions are ongoing,” he said.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was in the Egyptian capital for truce talks earlier this week, the group said.
Mediators including the United States, Qatar and Egypt have tried and so far failed to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal, but this week have been making a new push to break the deadlock.
More than four months of relentless fighting and bombardment have flattened much of Gaza and pushed its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the army will fight on until it has destroyed Hamas, but his failure so far to bring home all the captives has led to anger among Israelis and the families of hostages.
With Arab support, the United States has called for a pathway to a Palestinian state – something Israel’s parliament has overwhelmingly rejected.
However the G20, which closed a two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, broadly supports a two-state solution, Brazil said.
ISRAELI FORCES MISTOOK PARTYGOER FOR HAMAS
An investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz says 24-year-old Ofek Atun had escaped the Nova music festival, held near the Gaza Strip, with his girlfriend, Tamar, to a nearby Israeli community during the attack.
After going to a bomb shelter, they took refuge at an elderly couple’s home in Kibbutz Alumim, but the homeowners thought they were Palestinian fighters and called the town’s “volunteer security squad for help”, the report said.
“How events transpired from this point is not fully clear,” the Haaretz investigation reads.
“According to a member of the community security squad, Atun and the soldier got into a fight, and the soldier shot Atun many times, mistaking him for a terrorist. According to Tamar, Ofek was shot dead without any prior struggle.”
Tamar was also shot in the stomach by Israeli forces but survived, the report says.
🧵1/3
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) February 22, 2024
Haaretz investigation reveals: Israeli who managed to escape Nova music festival on Oct. 7, shortly before it was overrun by Hamas terrorists, was killed by a volunteer security squad at a neighboring kibbutz after being misidentified as a terroristhttps://t.co/lvW2DPJKPG
IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE IS THE ‘COMMON WISH’, SAYS CHINA
Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, China’s representative to the UN, Zhang Jun, has said that a ceasefire in Gaza is an “urgent imperative to save innocent lives and to prevent a wider war”.
He criticised the US for exercising its veto on Wednesday on a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and called on Washington to show a “responsible attitude” and “respect the established consensus”.
“An immediate ceasefire is the common wish voiced by the international community and the consensus of the council’s overwhelming majority,” he said.
HAPPENING NOW: Thousands of Jews and allies are taking over the AIPAC headquarters in NYC to make it clear that elected officials who take money from AIPAC and oppose a ceasefire are answering to a far-Right lobby group instead of answering to the people who elected them. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/zPixdwlk77
— Jewish Voice for Peace NYC (@jvpliveNY) February 22, 2024
HOUTHI MISSILES HIT UK SHIP
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly attacked Red Sea shipping lanes vital for global trade since the war began, with the Houthis saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
A missile attack claimed by the Houthis caused a fire on board a British-owned cargo vessel as it passed through the Gulf of Aden on Thursday.
With regional tensions high, two Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon, a security source said.
Hezbollah – which has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel – later announced retaliatory rocket fire.
UNRWA AT ‘BREAKING POINT’
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has informed the United Nations that the Palestinian refugee agency has reached its “breaking point”.
Several key donor countries, including the United States, suspended aid to the agency, following Israeli claims that a small handful of its employees took part in the October 7 attacks.
Israel has not provided evidence for those claims, but the funding cuts have taken a severe toll on the organisation as it works to address a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in Gaza.
Mr Lazzarini said that UNRWA’s ability to carry out its duties is now “severely threatened”.
“In just over four months in Gaza, there have been more children, more journalists, more medical personnel, and more UN staff killed than anywhere in the world during a conflict,” he said.
“It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that UNRWA has reached a breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle it and the freezing of funding by donors at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza.”
In just over four months in #Gaza, there have been more #children, more journalists, more medical personnel, and more @UN staff killed than anywhere in the world during a conflict.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) February 22, 2024
It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that @UNRWA has reached a breaking point,… pic.twitter.com/JbQVk72avu
UK CONSIDERS SUSPENDING ARMS EXPORTS TO ISRAEL
The UK government is considering restricting some arms exports to Israel if it launches a deadly offensive in Rafah or obstructs aid trucks from entering Gaza.
Citing ministerial sources, the British daily said a decision has yet to be made regarding a suspension of arms export licenses, but that it could quickly act if ministers were given legal advice that Israel is violating international law.
The UK has joined other allies in pressuring Israel to avoid a ground offensive in Rafah.
At a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday on the Arms Trade Treaty, UK officials were accused by Palestinian diplomats of breaking the treaty by refusing to rescind arms sales after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must ensure its forces did not commit acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinian representative Nada Tarbrush warned “a ground incursion in Rafah will lead to mass killings on an even greater scale than the atrocities we have seen in recent months”, adding that when the history books come to be written no one in the west can pretend they did not know of the destruction.
British officials told the meeting: “We can and do respond quickly and flexibly to changing and fluid situations.”
702 CHILDREN KILLED IN OCCUPIED WEST BANK
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also reports that 702 children were among the 4528 Palestinian people injured across the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and in Israel, since October.
The latest data, which was accurate up to Tuesday, also reveals that Israeli settlers carried out 573 recorded attacks against Palestinian people and their property during the same period.
In the most recent killing, undercover Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man on Tuesday after besieging a house in the Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli practice of demolishing Palestinian-owned homes in the occupied territories has also led to the displacement of 830 people, including 337 children, with 131 homes demolished since October 7, according to UNOCHA.
Some 95 per cent of the demolitions were reported in the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.
– with AFP.
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Originally published as Israel-Hamas war: Israel considers truce talks as UN slams lack of aid in Gaza Strip
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