Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday rejected the idea of ”humanitarian pauses” called for by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. ‘Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of our hostages’ Netanyahu said after the meeting with Blinken, who also met with President Isaac Herzog.
The head of North American diplomacy, who arrived in Jordan at the end of the day where he will meet five Arab counterparts today, said he had discussed the idea of ”humanitarian pauses” to ensure the release of the approximately 240 hostages . Hamas attacked Gaza during the October 7 surprise attack on Israel. And to enable the distribution of humanitarian aid among the population of the Palestinian enclave.
“We believe that each of these efforts would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses, by agreements on the ground that increase the safety of civilians and enable more effective and sustainable delivery of humanitarian assistance.”, Blinken told reporters. After the meeting with Herzog, the foreign minister reiterated not only “Israel’s right” but also “the obligation” to defend itself “to guarantee that October 7 will never happen again.”
However, the Pentagon confirmed the news of the New York Times that the US is using surveillance drones in the Gaza Strip in search of Hamas hostages – including ten Americans. According to the Pentagon press secretary, the flights “began after the October 7 attack” and are part of the “advice and assistance mission” to Israel. The newspaper said the flights began last week and were not used to assist Israeli military operations on the ground, but only to track possible hostages.
However, Blinken traveled to Jordan, where he will today meet the head of local diplomacy, as well as counterparts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. According to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, the six will discuss a way to “stop the war in Gaza.” A representative of the Palestinian Authority will also be present at the meeting, although none has been identified, and “the consequences of the dangerous escalation, which endangers the security of the entire region” must also be addressed.
Bomb attack on hospitals
While the diplomatic moves continue, the bombings in Gaza continue. One of the attacks reportedly hit the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital, at a time when dozens of ambulances were reportedly ready to take the most seriously injured to the Rafah border. “Dozens of people were killed and injured in this massacre,” a Hamas government spokesman said. AFP images show several bodies and injured people next to a damaged ambulance.
Earlier, Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters that “there are situations where [o Hamas] uses a civilian vehicle to transport terrorists”. And he had added, as quoted by AFP: “We don’t shoot at ambulances and hospitals when we know they are just civilians doing what they have to do.” Israel has in the past accused Hamas of using Al-Shifa as one of its bases, from which several tunnels emanate and even store fuel.
However, the Israeli army confirmed that it had bombed the ambulance, but allowed the vehicle to be used by Hamas fighters. “The aviation fired at an ambulance used by a Hamas terrorist cell close to its positions in the combat zone,” the Israeli army said in a statement. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza (controlled by Hamas), Israeli bombings have already killed more than 9,000 people.
Source: DN
