‘Gaza will be entirely destroyed,’ far-right Israeli minister tells conference – Middle East crisis live
“Israel’s plan to expand its Gaza offensive and displace Palestinians has horrified those already suffering from conflict and food shortages. Hamas, open to a long-term truce with Israel, rejects temporary ceasefires without a plan for Israeli troop withdrawal and an end to the assault. Hamas is willing to hand power over to an independent Palestinian body after the war.
Bezalel Smotrich tells gathering at West Bank settlement that Palestinians ‘will start to leave in great numbers to third countries’
Israel’s plan to expand its Gaza offensive, displace people within the territory and take control of aid distribution has horrified Palestinians in Gaza who have already suffered multiple displacements and food shortages during 19 months of conflict.
Israel has been blocking all aid from entering Gaza since 2 March, when a two-month ceasefire with Hamas that had improved access to food and medicine in Gaza and allowed many Palestinians to go home, fell apart.
Reuters reported:
For Aya, a 30-year-old Gaza City resident who returned home with her family during the ceasefire after months in the southern part of the strip, Israel’s announcement on Monday raised fears of being killed or indefinitely displaced.
“Are we going to die this time?” she said in a message on a chat app.
“Are they going to displace us again? Are we going to end up in Rafah, and will this be the last time, or are they going to force us out of Gaza after Rafah?” she said, referring to the Rafah area in southern Gaza, next to Egypt’s border.
Attending a funeral on Monday for several people killed in an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City, Mohammed al-Seikaly said things were so dire it was hard to comprehend Israel’s plans to intensify its assault.
“There is nothing left in the Gaza Strip that has not been struck by missiles and explosive barrels, and there are still threats to expand the operation,” he said.
“I’m asking in front of the whole world, what’s left to bomb?”
Hamas is open to a long-term truce with Israel, lasting five to seven years, official says
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has given an interview to Drop Site News. Here are the main takeaways from what he said:
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, will reject any temporary ceasefire deal that does not feature a plan for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the end to Israel’s continuing assault on the territory.
“What the Israelis are offering is: We will give you a ceasefire for a short while and then we will come back to kill you again. So what’s the idea of giving you food for 12, 40 days, two weeks or three weeks, and then coming back to kill you? It means that you endorse the genocide and you accept that for your own people,” Hamdan said.
Hamas would be open to a five to seven year truce with Israel, known as a hudna in Arabic, if certain conditions were met. “The main goal for this long term hudna is that each side has to believe that he will not be attacked by the other side, which can at least generate a kind of security. And it’s a chance to build trust that there may be a chance for a kind of stability and security,” he said.
Hamas, which has been the sole ruler in the Gaza Strip since 2007, would be willing to hand power over to an independent body of Palestinians or a technocratic committee after the war. “There was a suggestion from the Egyptian side to have a committee of leaders, independent leaders, from Gaza, to take control in Gaza for a while and then we can go to general elections. We’ve said yes, because if they were nationalist and they are working for Gaza’s benefit and the people’s, why not have them?,” Hamdan said.
Palestinians have a legal right to armed resistance. “You can’t talk about de-weaponizing the nation who is under occupation, while they are occupied by the most powerful army in the region,” Hamdan said.
No comments:
Post a Comment