Netanyahu resists int’l truce calls amid increasing civilian deaths
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel’s war on Gaza will continue for “many more months,” pushing back against persistent international cease-fire calls after mounting civilian deaths, hunger and mass displacement in the besieged enclave.
The Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said Sunday at least 21,822 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel erupted on October 7. The figure includes 150 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said. It added that 56,451 people have been wounded in Gaza since the start of the war.
The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza combat rose to 170, after the military announced two more deaths Saturday.
The war has displaced some 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, sending swells of people seeking shelter in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed. Palestinians are left with a sense that nowhere is safe in the tiny enclave.
In new fighting, Israeli jets intensified attacks on central Gaza on Sunday, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, has urged it to scale down the war and European states have signaled alarm at the extent of Palestinian civilian suffering.
Netanyahu’s comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave’s border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution.
US honored for new weapons sales
Netanyahu also thanked the Biden administration for its continued backing, including approval for a new emergency weapons sale, the second this month, and prevention of a UN Security Council resolution seeking an immediate cease-fire. Israel argues that ending the war now would mean victory for Hamas, a stance shared by the Biden administration, which at the same time urged Israel to do more to avoid harm to Palestinian civilians.
A Red Crescent video published on Sunday showed the chaotic aftermath of strikes in central Gaza, as rescuers worked in the dark to carry an injured child from smoking rubble.
As the year drew to a close, Palestinians in Gaza were praying for a cease-fire but had little optimism that 2024 would be better.
The US State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress he approved a $147.5 million sale for equipment, including fuses, charges and primers, that is needed for 155 m shells Israel bought previously.
It marked the second time this month that the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel. Blinken made a similar decision on Dec. 9 to approve the sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million.
Risk of famine
The war and lack of supplies have left 40% of Gazans at risk of famine, the Gaza director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media on Saturday.
Israel blockaded most food, fuel and medicine after the Oct. 7 attack. It said on Sunday it was ready to let ships from some Western countries deliver aid directly to Gaza’s shores after security checks in Cyprus.
Gemma Connell, an official with the UN humanitarian agency OCHA who has been working in Gaza, said tens of thousands of people fleeing to Rafah had been through attacks and bombardment and had arrived often with no possessions or anywhere to sleep.
“I just am so fearful that the amount of deaths that we’ve been seeing is going to increase exponentially both because of this renewed offensive but also because of these conditions which are literally unbelievable,” she said.
With Israeli forces expanding their ground offensive this week, tens of thousands more Palestinians streamed into the already crowded city of Rafah at the southernmost end of Gaza.
Thousands of tents and makeshift shacks have sprung up on Rafah’s outskirts next to UN warehouses. Displaced people arrived in Rafah on foot or on trucks and carts piled high with mattresses. Those who did not find space in overwhelmed shelters pitched tents on roadsides.