Cease-fire calls mount as death tolls rise in Gaza
Amid the escalating tensions in Gaza, calls for an immediate cease-fire have mounted as the United Nations warned Friday that “many more will die” as a result of Israel’s ongoing siege of the enclave.
Pressure is building on the international community to persuade Israel to allow desperately needed aid into Gaza. The UN and several countries in the region have called for an immediate cease-fire, while others advocate for a “humanitarian pause” in fighting.
But the world has so far failed to unite around a common position on the crisis nearly three weeks since the outbreak of the war, sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attacks, which killed over 1,400 people in Israel.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-governed Gaza said Friday that 7,326 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the eruption of war.
The latest death toll includes 3,038 children killed, a ministry statement said, while 18,967 people have been wounded across Gaza.
‘Soon, many more will die’
“As we speak, people in Gaza are dying. They are not only dying from bombs and strikes, (but also) soon, many more will die from the consequences of (the) siege imposed on the Gaza Strip,” said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
“Basic services are crumbling. Medicine is running out. Food and water are running out. The streets of Gaza have started overflowing with sewage,” AFP reported.
Humanitarian ‘pauses’
European Union leaders on Thursday stopped short of calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, instead appealing for humanitarian “pauses” to provide aid as the UN warned that its operations were being “paralyzed” by Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave. They said the EU “will work closely with partners in the region to protect civilians, provide assistance, and facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel, and shelter”.
The communique, released after meetings in Brussels Thursday, follows several failed attempts by the UN Security Council to pass a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war, with member states preparing to vote on another draft resolution on Friday — this time put forward by Jordan on behalf of Arab states.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told diplomats gathered at the United Nations Assembly Hall that “collective punishment is not self-defense.” Jordan’s proposed resolution calls for a “cessation of hostilities,” the release of Israelis captured during the Hamas attack, and the rejection of “any attempts at forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population,” CNN reported.
New phase of war
Israeli forces entered a new phase of their war against Gaza on Thursday, launching a substantial but limited raid into the coastal strip, in what was described as a probing action in preparation for a more sustained ground offensive.
Israel says it is preparing a ground invasion but has been urged by the US and Arab countries to delay an operation that would multiply the number of civilian casualties in the densely populated coastal strip and possibly ignite a wider conflict.
The ground raid into Gaza was carried out for the second consecutive night, Israel’s military said Friday. The small raid was backed by fighter jets and drones, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) saying it had struck dozens of targets on the outskirts of Gaza City.
An opinion poll published on Friday suggested almost half of Israelis now want to hold off on a ground invasion out of fears for at least 224 civilian prisoners that are reported to be held there.
Release of prisoners needs cease-fire
The Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted a member of a Hamas delegation visiting Moscow as saying that time was needed to locate all those who had been abducted by various Palestinian factions in the Hamas attack.
“They seized dozens of people, most of them civilians, and we need time to find them in the Gaza Strip and then release them,” Abu Hamid said.
He said Hamas, which has freed four prisoners so far, had made clear that it intended to release “civilian prisoners”.
The officials visiting Moscow were quoted by Russian media on Friday as saying the resistance group viewed all its prisoners as Israelis, whatever additional passports they held, and could not release any of them until Israel agreed to a cease-fire.
Iran’s priority
During the meeting with Hamas’ representative Moussa Abu Marzouk, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Ali Baqeri Kani also emphasized the need for achieving a cease-fire, lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and providing humanitarian assistance to Gazans, according to a statement Friday by the Iranian Embassy in Moscow, Mehr news agency reported.
IRNA said Abu Marzouk told Baqeri Kani that he appreciated Iran’s support for the Palestinian people.
EU’s stance
With the EU’s 27-nation bloc being split between relatively pro-Palestinian members such as Ireland and Spain, and staunch backers of Israel including Germany and Austria, there was less consensus on urging any halt to Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza. Ahead of the Thursday talks in Brussels, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said, “All the fantasies of truces, cease-fires, etc. have the effect of strengthening Hamas in its determination to continue its action and perpetuate this terrible terror.”
In their statement, the EU leaders said they supported a Spanish proposal on “holding an international peace conference soon” to discuss trying to find a lasting, two-state solution.
Diplomats from some EU nations had warned that delays over finding the right words as the death toll mounts in Gaza were damaging the bloc’s global standing.
“We can feel that some in the world are using the circumstances to try to rally a part of the international community to attack the European Union,” European Council President Charles Michel said.