-October 9, 2023, News/Comments
- Israel is pounding the besieged Gaza Strip for a second night in a row after formally declaring war against the Palestinian armed group Hamas. Its military said some 100,000 reserve troops have amassed near the border with Gaza, a day after Hamas’s surprise attack.
- Fierce fighting continuing between Hamas gunmen and Israeli troops in at least three areas in southern Israel. These include a Kibbutz in Karmia and in the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot.
- The latest death toll stands at 413 Palestinians, according to health officials, and more than 700 Israelis, according to media reports.
- Hamas said it is holding more than 100 people captive inside Gaza.
- Members of the United Nations Security Council met for an emergency session behind closed doors in New York but failed to agree on a joint statement on the escalating violence in Gaza and Israel.
- Iran meanwhile has denied any involvement in the Hamas land, sea and air offensive.
- Hamas’ surprise attack came after Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in recent days and a record numbers of Palestinians were killed by Israel in recent months.
Palestinians watch on as civil defence teams search for victims trapped under the rubble of a house destroyed during Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ Reuters]
More than 500 Gaza targets hit overnight: Israeli army
The Israeli army says it has attacked “more than 500 strategic targets” in the Gaza Strip overnight. It said on social media platform X that warplanes, helicopters and artillery forces took part in the strikes on the Islamic Jihad and Hamas targets.
An Israeli soldier directs a military vehicle near the southern city of Ashkelon [Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP]
AJ Correspondent reports ‘non-stop bombardment’ of Gaza towns
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli forces have intensified their bombing of the besieged Palestinian enclave in the last couple of hours.
“The skies over Gaza are full of Israeli fighter jets and drones. Some towns in the Gaza Strip, in particular Beit Hanoun, has seen non-stop bombardment for more than an hour,” he said, as the sound of explosions rang out behind him and clouds of smoke rose into the sky.The exact number of casualties were not clear as medical teams have been unable to access the affected areas, Abu Azzoum said, adding that Israeli forces were likely pursuing a scorched earth policy to facilitate a ground invasion of Gaza.
Palestinian groups have also launched a barrage of rockets into southern Israel, he added.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has met behind closed doors in an emergency session amid the war between Israel and Gaza but failed to achieve the unanimity needed for a joint statement.
At least 1,100 people have already been killed since Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the blockaded Gaza Strip, launched an assault on Israeli towns on Saturday and took hundreds of people hostage.
Israel retaliated by declaring a State of war and pounding densely-populated Gaza, killing hundreds of people.
The United States called on the council’s 15 members to strongly condemn Hamas.
“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the session.
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a reference to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine.The council met for about 90 minutes and heard a briefing from the UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland.
Diplomats said members led by Russia were hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.A statement needs to be agreed upon by consensus.
“My message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations, which was told for decades” by the Security Council, said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN ambassador.
“This is partly the result of unresolved issues,” he said.
The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Isreal as part of a landmark 2020 deal, said it expected more UNSC meetings on the crisis.
“I think everyone understands that today, the situation is one of grave concern,” said the UAE Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh.
“Many members of the Council believe that a political horizon leading to a two-state solution is the only way to finally solve this conflict,” she said.
‘Path to peace’
Neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority (PA), based in the West Bank and a political rival to Hamas, attended the meeting because they are currently on the Security Council. The Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour called on diplomats to focus on ending the Israeli occupation.
“Regrettably, history for some media and politicians starts when Israelis are killed,” he said.
“This is not a time to let Israel double down on its terrible choices. This is a time to tell Israel it needs to change course, that there is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed.”
In an open letter sent to UNSC members ahead of the meeting, three Palestinian human rights organisations said the UN’s inaction had enabled the latest violence and meant its members were “complicit” in what had happened.
The Palestine-based organisations – Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights – called on UN member states to address the “root causes and protect the Palestinian people from Israeli attacks”.
Meanwhile, ahead of the meeting, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan showed graphic pictures of Israeli civilians being taken captive by Hamas.
“These are war crimes – blatant, documented war crimes,” Erdan told reporters.
“This unimaginable, unimaginable atrocity must be condemned. Israel must be given steadfast support to defend ourselves – to defend the free world.”
Home to some 2 million people and measuring about 365sq km (141sq miles), the Gaza Strip has been ruled by Hamas since 2007 since a brief war with forces loyal to the PA.
Its assault in Israel coincides with US-backed moves to nudge Saudi Arabia towards normalising ties with Israel in return for a defence deal between Washington and Riyadh.
“We don’t see any reason that should be off the table,” said Erdan. “We still want it to happen. We’ll do everything that we can to live in co-existence with all of our neighbours.”
The United States has said it will send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support following Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian armed group Hamas. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday said Washington will also increase military aid and provide munitions to Israel.
Hamas has labelled the US announcement as “aggression” against Palestinians.
“The announcement of the US that it will provide an aircraft carrier to support the occupation [Israel] is actual participation in the aggression against our people,” the group said in a statement.
Israel battered Palestinians with air strikes in the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed on both sides.
Austin said the US believes Hamas’s latest attack could also be aimed at disrupting a potential normalising of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Austin said the security assistance to Israel will begin moving on Sunday and that the US will be adding fighter jets to the region as well.
The US has also ordered the moving of a carrier strike group closer to Israel, which includes the Ford carrier and ships that support it.
“I have directed the movement of the USS Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean,” Austin said in a statement.
Source: Al-Jazeera News
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