Biden says Hamas remains ‘major obstacle’ to ceasefire

Israeli troops carried out new deadly bombings in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday and engaged Hamas in Rafah, with U.S. President Joe Biden accusing the Palestinian Islamist movement of being the “major obstacle” to a ceasefire deal.

The war is entering its ninth month with no respite. New violence has broken out on the northern front with Lebanon, with the Israeli army threatening to respond “with force” to attacks by Hezbollah, which has fired dozens of shells at Israeli military targets.

The Gaza truce announced on May 31 by Israel’s main ally Joe Biden has yet to be implemented, with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas sticking to their invisible positions.

“What did we gain from this war?”

“What have we gained from this war except killing, destruction, extermination and famine?” lamented Oum Chadi, a 50-year-old Palestinian, urging Hamas to “end the war immediately instead of seeking control and domination of Gaza.”

While hopes for a ceasefire have often been dashed, Gaza residents like Umm Chadi have criticized Hamas and called for a ceasefire as the devastated Palestinian territory faces a dire humanitarian crisis and faces famine.

In Jerusalem, students demonstrated in front of the Knesset, waving pictures of Israelis kidnapped in the Gaza Strip during Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, and called on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the war and send the hostages home.

gunfire

But Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his determination to continue the war until Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, is defeated.

Heavy shelling and air strikes targeted several areas on Thursday, especially Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to AFP reporters on the scene.

Hamas’ military wing said it was engaging in street fighting in the western district of Rafah, where witnesses said Apache helicopters opened fire. Others described “a very violent night” in the city. The army reported a “targeted operation” in Rafah, where its soldiers “eliminated several terrorists in close combat.”

37,232 deaths in Gaza

Israel says the ground offensive launched on May 7 in Rafah was crucial to eliminating Hamas, but fighting has resumed in several other parts of Gaza in recent weeks, particularly in the city center, where three bodies were found in bombed homes, according to the civil defense service.

The war was sparked by a Hamas attack from Gaza in southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 abductees, 116 are still being held in Gaza, 41 of whom have died, according to the military.

In response, Israeli forces launched a massive offensive in Gaza that left 37,232 people dead, including 30 in 24 hours, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-led Gaza government’s health ministry.

After more than eight months of war, the United States is working to reach an agreement based on the plan announced by Joe Biden, which provides for a six-week ceasefire in the first phase, accompanied by the Israeli government’s withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of some hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Biden blames Hamas

Joe Biden said the plan came from Israel. But Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his government’s determination to destroy Hamas and release all hostages, calling the decision incomplete.

Hamas sent an initial response to the mediating countries, but it has not been disclosed. According to people familiar with the matter, it contains “amendments” to the plan, including “a permanent ceasefire and a timetable for the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza,” demands that Israel has always rejected.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared in Doha on Wednesday that “some changes” demanded by Hamas are “doable, others are not,” the final stop on another Middle East trip since October 7.

During the G7 summit in Italy, Joe Biden accused Hamas of blocking any ceasefire agreement. “I submitted a proposal that was approved by the Security Council, the G7 and Israel, and the main obstacle at this stage is Hamas, which has refused to sign despite making similar proposals,” he said.

The G7 leaders earlier called on Hamas to “reach the necessary agreements” to implement the proposal.

On Israel’s northern front, cross-border exchanges of fire between Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israeli forces have increased. On Thursday, Hezbollah launched attacks “with rockets and drones” on multiple military positions in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan. According to the military, two Israeli soldiers were wounded by a projectile in Manara, near the Lebanese border. The Lebanese Movement has stepped up its attacks since a commander was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

AFP

Did you find the error?please tell us.

0 Comments