Growing considerations from allies over Israel’s strategy to preventing Hamas as civilian casualties mount
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel‘s prime minister pushed back Saturday against growing calls from Western allies to do more to protect Palestinian civilians, as troops closed in on Gaza‘s largest hospital that Israel claims is Hamas‘ main command post but still hosts thousands of patients and people seeking shelter.
Benjamin Netanyahu said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas, repeating long-standing allegations that the militant group uses civilians in Gaza as human shields. He said that while Israel has urged civilians to leave combat zones, “Hamas is doing everything it can to prevent them from leaving.”
His statement came after French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for a cease-fire and urged other leaders to join his call, telling the BBC there was “no justification” for Israel‘s ongoing bombing.
Following Hamas‘ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, Israel‘s allies have defended the country’s proper to guard itself. But now into the second month of conflict, there are rising variations in what number of really feel Israel ought to conduct its struggle.
The U.S. has been pushing for momentary pauses that may enable for wider distribution of badly wanted help to civilians within the besieged territory the place circumstances are more and more dire. However, Israel has to this point solely agreed to transient every day durations throughout which civilians are capable of flee the realm of floor fight in northern Gaza and head south on foot alongside the territory’s primary north-south artery.
Since these evacuation home windows had been first introduced per week in the past, greater than 150,000 civilians have fled the north, in response to U.N. displays. Tens of 1000’s extra stay in northern Gaza, many sheltering at hospitals and overcrowded U.N. services.
Palestinian civilians and rights advocates have pushed again in opposition to Israel’s portrayal of the southern evacuation zones as “relatively safe,” noting that Israeli bombardment has continued throughout Gaza, together with airstrikes within the south that Israel says goal Hamas leaders, however which have additionally killed ladies and kids.
The U.S. and Israel even have diverging views on what a post-war Gaza ought to seem like. Netanyahu and army leaders have mentioned this must be dictated solely by Israel’s safety wants, comparable to guaranteeing no threats emerge from the territory. Israel has mentioned a key objective of the conflict is to crush Hamas, a militant group that has dominated Gaza for 16 years.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, talking to reporters Friday throughout a tour of Asia, laid out what he mentioned had been basic rules for a post-war Gaza, a few of which appeared to run counter to Israel’s slim strategy.
Blinken mentioned these rules embody “no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no use of Gaza as a platform for launching terrorism or other attacks against Israel, no diminution in the territory of Gaza, and a commitment to Palestinian-led governance for Gaza and for the West Bank, and in a unified way.”
Concern has grown in latest days as preventing by way of the dense neighborhoods of Gaza City has come nearer to hospitals, which Israel claims are being utilized by Hamas fighters.
On Saturday, Palestinians mentioned Israeli troops had been inside view of Shifa Hospital, Gaza‘s largest. Israel has said Hamas‘ main command center is located underneath the hospital, claims Hamas and Shifa staff deny.
Thousands of civilians had been sheltering in the Shifa compound in recent weeks, but many fled Friday after several nearby strikes in which one person was killed and several were wounded.
Abdallah Nasser, who lives near Shifa, said by phone that the Israeli military was advancing deep into the city from its southern and northern flanks.
“They are facing stiff resistance, but they are advancing,” he said.
Mohammed al-Masri, one of thousands still sheltering at the hospital, said that from a higher floor he could see Israeli troops approaching from the west. “They are here,” he said. “They are visible.”
Thousands have fled Shifa and other hospitals that have come under attack, but physicians said it’s inconceivable for everybody to get out.
“We cannot evacuate ourselves and (leave) these people inside,” a Doctors Without Borders surgeon at Shifa, Mohammed Obeid, was quoted as saying by the group.
“As a doctor, I swear to help the people who need help.”
The group mentioned different docs reported that some employees had fled to to avoid wasting themselves and their households, and urged all hospitals be protected.
More than 11,070 Palestinians, two-thirds of them ladies and minors, have been killed for the reason that conflict started, in response to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 folks have been reported lacking and are regarded as probably trapped or lifeless underneath the rubble.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry mentioned six folks had been killed early Saturday in a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp that hit a home. The camp is situated within the southern evacuation zone.
At least 1,200 folks have been killed in Israel, primarily within the preliminary Hamas assault, and 41 Israeli troopers have been killed in Gaza for the reason that floor offensive started, Israeli officers say. The Foreign Ministry had beforehand estimated the civilian dying toll at 1,400, and gave no purpose Friday for the revision.
An Israeli official informed The Associated Press that the quantity had been modified after a painstaking weekslong course of to establish our bodies, a lot of which had been mutilated or burned within the Hamas rampage. The last dying toll may nonetheless change, in response to the official, who spoke on situation of anonymity pending a proper announcement.
Nearly 240 folks kidnapped by Hamas from Israel stay captive.
About 250,000 Israelis have been compelled to evacuate from communities close to Gaza and alongside the northern border with Lebanon, the place Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have traded hearth repeatedly.
