US President Joe Biden used the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah to call for an end to the fighting in Gaza and new efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
Biden to push for Gaza ceasefire after Israel-Lebanon deal
Biden said the US “will work with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.” The president also wants to free hostages and end the war without Hamas in power.
Biden made the comments when he announced the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon at the White House. He added that the US “remains committed to a series of historic deals with Saudi Arabia, including a security pact and economic guarantees, as well as a credible path to a Palestinian state and a full… normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”
A senior White House administration official confirmed that Trump’s national security team has been briefed on the ceasefire plans and said the president-elect’s administration is expected to continue to support it.
The Palestinian Hamas movement is ready for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip following the announcement of a truce between Lebanon and Israel, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a spokesman for the group.
“Hamas is ready for a ceasefire and a serious prisoner exchange agreement,” the group’s representative told the agency.
17 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on shelter for displaced in Gaza
At least 17 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes on a shelter in Gaza City and a house in the northern Gaza Strip, as Israeli artillery continues to shell neighbourhoods across the war-torn enclave.
A medical source said 10 Palestinians, including three children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Tabi’een school, which provides shelter for displaced people in Gaza City.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli warplanes struck the school, which had been turned into a shelter, at dawn, killing among the displaced. Search operations to find missing people under the rubble are continuing, the eyewitnesses added.
On August 10, the same school was the scene of a massacre when Israeli warplanes struck the school during prayers, killing more than 100 Palestinians.
A medical source also told Anadolu that four Palestinians were killed and wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Shejaiya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.
Another three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a group of people near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. The Israeli army also besieged a school in the Beit Lahia project area, forcing displaced people inside to leave the building.
Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip since October 5 to allegedly prevent the Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping. More than 2,300 people have been killed since then, according to Palestinian health authorities.
