Mayat bergelimpangan di Gaza, Palestina. PBB diam "seribu bahasa"
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the need to take additional steps to protect humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip. During a meeting in Washington D.C.
Blinken and Gallant discussed ongoing efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages and alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people, Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. Blinken updated Gallant on ongoing diplomatic efforts to advance security, governance and reconstruction in Gaza during a post-conflict period and emphasized the importance of that work to Israel’s security, Miller added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on the need for Israel to swiftly develop a robust post-war plan for Gaza and ensure the tensions with Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border do not escalate further.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held talks with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein to discuss moving to “Phase C” of Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. Gallant told Hochstein that “the transition to ‘Phase C’ in the war in Gaza will impact developments on all fronts,” the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The third phase under the Israeli definition includes low-intensity fighting in Gaza, targeted airstrikes, withdrawal of forces, the establishment of a buffer zone near Gaza’s border and finding an alternative to Hamas’ rule in the enclave.
The U.S. Department of State said a video of a wounded Palestinian man strapped on a military jeep by Israeli forces was “shocking” and urged a swift investigation to hold those responsible to account.
At a Department of State news briefing, a reporter asked, “Isn’t that basically the army using Palestinians as human shields?” Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller responded, “I will say we saw that video. It was shocking. The practice was absolutely unacceptable. Humans should never be used as human shields.”
Israeli fighter jets carried out air strikes on the Al-Daraj clinic in the southern Gaza Strip and killed at least 11 Palestinians. Meanwhile, quoted by Reuters, Tuesday, Israel also attacked a food distribution center in Gaza City, near the historic Shati refugee camp, causing three people to die as a result of the attack. Another attack occurred near the town of Bani Suhaila, killing at least eight people, including medics accompanying aid trucks.
The Palestinian movement Hamas insists that Russia should be one of the guarantors of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Hamas political bureau deputy head Musa Abu Marzouk told Sputnik. “We still insist that Russia be the guarantor of such a ceasefire agreement, because obviously the United States is on the side of Israel … Russia’s position is fairer, more acceptable to all sides, and it is ready to act in this direction. We want to put an end to the hegemony of the United States and its one-sided influence on the Palestinian issue,” Marzouk said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has stressed the need for a diplomatic solution to avoid a costly war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
During a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, he warned that the war between Israel and Hezbollah would be catastrophic for Lebanon, and it would be devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese civilians. “Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah,” he said.
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 37,658, health authorities in the enclave said. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 32 Palestinians and wounded 139 others, bringing the total number of injuries to 86,237 since the conflict broke out in October 2023, the health authorities said in a statement, also warning of a severe shortage of medicine and supplies.
The U.N. Human Rights Office in the occupied territories issued a statement urging Israel to immediately halt the killing of protected individuals, including health workers.
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said that Indonesia encouraged Austria to immediately recognize Palestine as an independent and fully sovereign state. Retno told Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg that Indonesia understands Austria’s current difficult position.
However, considering Austria’s support for a resolution through a two-state solution, Retno views the matter of recognizing the State of Palestine as a step that shows consistent support for a two-state solution.
After discussions with U.S. officials, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant emphasized that Israel cannot accept Hezbollah’s military formation on the border with Lebanon. Gallant said that his country did not want war in Lebanon, but could send it back to the “Stone Age” if diplomacy failed.
“We don’t want to get into a war because it’s not good for Israel. We have the ability to take Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don’t want to do it,” Gallant told reporters on the last day of the visit. “We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” he said.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said “we’re not pulling out of Gaza,” rejecting claims to the contrary. ‘We’re just trying to find the space in which we operate within conditions that meet our very basic and pretty simple standards” Stephane told reporters.
