The head of Israeli diplomacy, Eli Cohen, said yesterday that “Israel will continue its war against Hamas with or without international support,” after the day before the United Nations General Assembly voted on a resolution calling for a ceasefire -the-fire. and warnings from US President Joe Biden. A message later echoed by the Prime Minister himself, Benjamin Netanyahu: “Nothing will stop us.”
The Israeli leader yesterday visited a detention center in southern Israel where Hamas militants are being held and interrogated. According to Netanyahu’s office, he told soldiers at the scene: “We will continue until the end, until victory, until the elimination of Hamas,” even in the face of international pressure. Earlier, the head of diplomacy had reiterated that “a ceasefire at this stage is a gift to the terrorist organization Hamas and will only allow it to return and threaten the people of Israel.”
The non-binding resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire was approved in the General Assembly by 153 votes in favor (including Portugal) and only ten votes against, including those of Israel and the US – which already exercised their veto on Friday had used in the Security Council to block a different but binding resolution. There were still 23 countries that abstained.
Although the US voted against the resolution, there was a change in Biden’s speech. The president said at a campaign event on Tuesday that “most of the world” supported Israel immediately after the October 7 terrorist attacks. But he warned that the The Israelis “are beginning to lose that support due to indiscriminate bombings” in the Gaza Strip.
Biden yesterday met for the first time with the families of the eight American hostages held by Hamas. Relatives have insisted they are pressuring Israel for further humanitarian pauses to allow the release of more hostages. There are still 135 in Gaza.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be in Israel today and tomorrow for meetings with the Prime Minister and President Isaac Herzog. The US yesterday, like Britain, approved sanctions against people who “represent Hamas’s interests and manage Hamas’s finances abroad.”
Besides the bombs also the rain
Despite the UN’s call for a ceasefire, Israel continues its operation in the Gaza Strip, hitting around 250 targets in 24 hours. Fighting and bombings take place both in the north, in the city of Gaza, and in the south, in Khan Yunis or Rafah. According to authorities in Gaza (controlled by Hamas), more than 18,000 people have been killed since the start of the war. However, the arrival of rain and cold weather is further complicating the lives of nearly two million displaced Palestinians.
Aziza al-Shabrawi told AFP in Rafah that she tried in vain to remove the water from the family’s tent, pointing to her children amid the precarious conditions. “My son is sick from the cold and my daughter is barefoot. It’s like we are beggars,” said this mother. “No one cares and no one helps,” she added, explaining that she was first forced to leave her home in the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, was in Khan Yunis and was again forced to to flee south to Rafah. there is no place left to go.
Ten soldiers killed
Netanyahu realized it was Tuesday “a hard and painful day”. It is not about the vote on the UN or Biden’s words, but about the death of ten Israeli soldiers – nine of them in an ambush in the city of Gaza. It was the deadliest day for Israeli forces since the ground invasion began on October 27. A total of 115 soldiers died.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the army was searching buildings in the Shijaiyah neighborhood when contact was lost with four soldiers who had come under fire. When other soldiers launched a rescue operation, they were ambushed and confronted with gunfire and explosives. Among the dead was 44-year-old Colonel Itzhak Ben Basat, the highest-ranking officer killed during the ground operation.
Netanyahu insists the war will continue until the destruction of Hamas, but support for the terrorist group is growing in the occupied West Bank – where Israeli military operations have also increased. Since the October 7 attacks, 271 Palestinians – including 69 children – have been killed in the area, almost all by Israeli forces.
A survey conducted by a Palestinian research center between November 22 and December 2 among 1,231 people in the West Bank and Gaza (during the week-long ceasefire) concluded that 44% of those surveyed in the West Bank support Hamas, compared to just 12%. In Gaza, support rose from 38% to 42%. The majority of respondents (57% in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank) believe that Hamas was right to launch its terrorist attack on October 7 and only 10% say it committed war crimes.
The poll also shows that 88% believe that Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmud Abbas should resign, up ten points from three months ago, and almost 60% believe that the PA itself should be dismantled.
Source: DN
