[ad_1]
HUMANITARIAN PAUSES
The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas militants for a “sufficient number of days” to allow humanitarian aid access. It also called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas. The 15-member council overcame an impasse in four attempts to take action last month.
Israel has so far rejected calls for a ceasefire, which it says would benefit Hamas, a position backed by Washington. But a pause in fighting has been discussed in negotiations mediated by Qatar to release some of the hostages held by Hamas.
Israel has so far rejected calls for a ceasefire, which it says would benefit Hamas, a position backed by Washington. But a pause in fighting has been discussed in negotiations mediated by Qatar to release some of the hostages held by Hamas.
An official briefed on the negotiations said Qatari mediators were seeking a deal that would include a three-day truce, with Hamas releasing 50 of its captives and Israel releasing some women and minors from among its security detainees.
The official said Hamas had agreed to the outlines of the deal but Israel had not and was still negotiating terms.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told reporters the Israeli incursion into Al Shifa Hospital was “totally unacceptable”.
“Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” he said in Geneva.
“What is happening in Gaza is a very obvious, very clear war crime that Israel is committing against those who have been treated in the hospitals,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who serves in the Palestinian Authority that exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel has consistently maintained that the hospital sits above a Hamas headquarters, an assertion the United States said on Tuesday was supported by its own intelligence.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, also speaking in Geneva, implored Israel on Wednesday to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel. Aid is currently being allowed into Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt but it was designed for pedestrians, not trucks.
[ad_2]
Source link
