The United States has said it is time to “finalize” a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to bow to pressure.
Washington will work “in the coming days” with other mediators, Egypt and Qatar, “to push for a final agreement,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Netanyahu has rejected “concessions” in indirect negotiations with Hamas, despite mounting domestic and international pressure following the Israeli army’s recovery of six dead hostages in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
This comes after the US also expressed frustration with Sir Keir Starmer over his government’s decision to restrict 30 of the 350 arms sales to Israel.
John Kirby, Joe Biden’s national security communications adviser, said: “Each nation can speak for itself about how and to what extent it supports Israel. We’re going to continue to do what we need to do to support Israel’s defensive capabilities.”
Thousands of Israelis gathered around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence last night with banners to protest
Netanyahu rejects ‘concessions’ in indirect talks with Hamas, despite growing domestic and international pressure
Israeli protesters are repelled by plainclothes police officers during a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Defense last night
The United States on Tuesday unsealed a raft of “terrorism” and other charges against six Hamas leaders related to the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Among the targets of the February charges were Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, who was taking part in truce talks when he was killed in July in an attack blamed on Israel.
The UN’s top human rights official, Volker Turk, has called for an “independent, impartial and transparent investigation” into reports that six captives recovered dead from Gaza had been summarily executed.
Despite growing grief and anger among Israelis, who have taken to the streets to pressure the government and express concern over the fate of the hostages, Netanyahu said he “will not bow to pressure.”
“The Israeli prime minister has been ruining our chances of reaching a deal with Hamas to return our hostages alive,” Tel Aviv protester Jonathan Edan said on Tuesday.
“All he wants to survive is his political career and his coalition,” the 26-year-old told AFP.
The Israeli prime minister said Monday that “achieving the aims of the war” requires control of the Philadelphia Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, to prevent Hamas from rearming.
Egypt on Tuesday rejected accusations that its border with Gaza was being used to arm Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of trying to “distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct the achievement of a ceasefire agreement.”
Saudi Arabia supported Cairo and expressed its “strong condemnation and denunciation of Israeli statements on the Philadelphia Corridor,” in a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
Thousands of Israelis protested yesterday in front of the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for not signing the ceasefire agreement with Gaza.
This comes as Israel has been rocked by a wave of mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conduct of the war since the Hamas terror attack last October.
Protesters set fires during a demonstration on the second day of protests demanding a deal on Gaza on September 2, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel
US President Joe Biden, meeting with negotiators, replied “no” when asked if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a deal on the hostages.
Hamas has long demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and Egyptian officials have opposed the Israeli military presence on the border.
Ramping up pressure on Israel, Britain said on Monday it would suspend some arms exports, citing a “clear risk” they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.
On Tuesday, the civil defense spokesman in Hamas-ruled Gaza said an Israeli strike on a university killed two people and wounded 30.
The Israeli army said it had attacked “Hamas terrorists” at a university in Gaza City.
The civil defence agency, witnesses and AFP correspondents also reported airstrikes and shelling in southern and central Gaza.
As Israeli forces continue their bombardment of Gaza, the military said Wednesday it “intercepted a hostile unmanned aerial vehicle that approached Israel from the east” of the country bordering Jordan.
Soldiers also continued a week-long assault on the occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces have killed at least 30 Palestinians in the northern West Bank since August 28, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, while the Israeli military reported the death of one soldier in “anti-terror” raids.
Israeli troops have destroyed infrastructure and hampered the work of medics, and the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said Israeli forces repelled its attempt on Tuesday to reach the community of Jenin.
An Israeli protester carries a sign in Hebrew reading ‘Netanyahu’s legacy’ at a mass rally last night condemning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the hostages.
Biden spoke to reporters as he left the White House Monday afternoon for a Labor Day event in Pittsburgh.
An AFP journalist saw Palestinian medics trying to get past Israeli troops to reach people trapped in the Jenin refugee camp, but they had to turn back.
“The situation is very catastrophic,” said volunteer doctor Faraj al-Jundi, after being denied entry.
‘We tried to help with what we could.’
Israel’s campaign against Hamas since Oct. 7 has killed at least 40,819 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The U.N. human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
Hamas’s attack on Israel killed 1,205 people, most of them civilians, including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Of the 251 hostages captured by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead. Dozens of hostages were released during a week-long truce in November, the only one so far.
Hamas’s armed wing spokesman, Abu Obeida, said on Monday that the remaining hostages would return “in coffins” if Israel maintained its military pressure on the territory.
With Gaza in ruins and most of its 2.4 million residents forced to flee, often sheltering in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, the disease has spread.
Following the first confirmed case of polio in 25 years, a vaccination campaign began on Sunday amid “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.
More than 161,000 children have already received a first dose of the vaccine in central Gaza, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. It aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children in total.