Resignations over Gaza war rock Israeli army
Gaza ‘powder keg’ could spark wider war: UN
Many high-ranking officials have resigned from the Israeli army spokesperson’s team due to the ongoing war in Gaza, according to the Israeli media, as UN human right warned that the war is a “powder keg” with the potential to spark broader conflict in the Middle East.
On Sunday, Israeli Channel 14 reported that “The second-in-command in Daniel Hagari’s team, Moran Katz, along with many high-ranking officials have submitted their resignations in light of the Gaza conflict”.
“The retiring officials also include Gen. Richard Heshit, the Israeli army’s spokesperson for foreign media affairs,” Anadolu Agency quoted the channel as saying.
Israeli reports in recent months have highlighted deep-seated disputes between the cabinet and the army regarding the regime’s management of the war and its post-war strategy in Gaza.
Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed 30,410 people and injured 71,700 others with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
‘Powder keg’
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Monday that the Gaza war is a “powder keg” with the potential to spark broader conflict in the Middle East, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Monday, AFP reported. Turk said it was imperative to take all possible measures to avoid a wider conflagration.
“The war in Gaza has already generated dangerous spillover in neighboring countries,” he said in his global update to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration. This would have implications for every country in the Middle East and many beyond it.”
He said that overlapping emergencies made the specter of spillover conflict very real, and cited the examples of Yemen and Lebanon as places where the Gaza war is having a wider effect. “The military escalation in southern Lebanon between Israel, Hezbollah and other armed groups is extremely worrying,” Turk said.
The UN high commissioner for human rights said almost 200 people had been killed in Lebanon and some 90,000 internally displaced.
There was also extensive damage to health facilities, schools and vital infrastructure.
“Incidents in which civilians, including children, paramedics and journalists, have been killed in attacks must be fully investigated,” said Turk.
Some 80,000 people have also been displaced from areas in northern Israel along the country’s border with Lebanon, he added.
Yemen’s military forces have been targeting Israeli-linked ships in Red Sea in support of Palestinians.
The US, Israel’s key ally, has led reprisal strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in a bid to quash the attacks.
Turk said the Houthi attacks had not only disrupted global maritime trade but had driven up the price of goods, which has had a significant impact on developing countries.
Truce talks
Meanwhile, mediators and Hamas envoys have made “significant progress” towards a truce in Gaza, Egyptian state-linked TV reported Monday as the talks in Cairo entered a second day. Egypt, Qatar and the US have been pushing for a cease-fire in the almost five-month-old war, with the latest proposal calling for a six-week halt to fighting and prisoner
release.