Photo credit: Hananya Naftali @HananyaNaftali|Twitter
Jerusalem/Washington/Moscow: At least 119 Palestinians have died, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and nine people have been killed in Israel which has built up troops at the Gaza border, and carried out airstrikes against, what the Israeli defense forces described as, a “vast network of Palestinian militant tunnels” in Gaza City.
In retaliation, Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets towards Israel, and reports suggest that Israelis living near the Gaza border have rushed to bomb shelters.
JUST IN : Massive rocket barrages from Hamas, Gaza to Israel#BreakingNews #NewsUpdate #NewsAlert #Video 24/7 pic.twitter.com/rhwoFcgm8a
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The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday. It had to reschedule its planned meeting that was to convene on Friday as it was blocked by the US. This had made China accuse Washington of “ignoring the suffering” of Muslims.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed concerns today on the situation in the Middle East, and the aggravation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, “which is taking place in close proximity to our borders and directly concerns our security interests”.
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told mediapersons last night (IST) that the USA had had dozens of calls at very high levels with Israeli and Palestinian leaders — from the President Joe Biden’s call with Prime Minister Benjamn Netanyahu, to the Secretary of State also spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“And our role is to — going to continue to work not just with the Israelis and the Palestinians — have the discussions, move toward de-escalation — but also with other key partners in the regions, as we all work toward that peace,” she said.
She though said that during his call to Netanyahu, Biden reiterated the right of Israel of self- — to defend themselves. “You know, in our view, rocket attacks from — attacks from Hamas into civilian neighborhoods is not self-defense. So he (Biden) certainly reiterated that, but also reiterated the need to move to deescalate the situation on the ground.(while talking to Israeli PM Netanyahu),” she said.
Stating that the loss of any life — a civilian life, any life — is a tragedy, she said that was one of the reasons that “we are so engaged behind the scenes in this effort. It is a tragedy for the loss of any life — a civilian, a child — and we’ve certainly seen that as this violence has escalated,she said. She added: “Our objective and our approach is to work with leaders in the region — whether they’re the Israelis or the Palestinians — or leaders from other countries who can play an integral role in influencing Hamas to deescalate and move toward a more stable peace. That’s the role and that’s the focus of the United States government, but that should not diminish the fact that any loss of life is a tragedy. And that’s what we would convey.”
Earlier, according a report of the New York Times, there were also reports of the threat of a civil war in Israel after violent clashes between groups of Jews and Arabs in the streets of Lod and many other cities of Israel. Arabs constitute about 20 percent of the Israel population. Lod, the mixed Arab-Jewish town, had been the epicenter of three nights of violence and finally authorities had to to impose a curfew and deploy armed border troops there. However, such measures did little to restore calm.
The NYT stated Netanyahu’s political detractors had now seized the opportunity to blame Netanyahu for the violence, which according the the newspaper was rather unusual as Israeli politicians often close ranks in a crisis. It quoted Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the opposition, saying the events “can be no excuse for keeping Netanyahu and his government in place. Quite the opposite.”
– global bihari bureau
