Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies growing international calls for a ceasefire, saying Israel would continue to fight militants of Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement “in full force,” but he made a statement in a televised address that a ceasefire would only be possible if all 239 hostages held by militants in Gaza were released.
Netanyahu also made a number of loud and contrary to the interests of a post-war settlement. He explicitly rejected that the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs autonomous areas in the West Bank, would at some point control Gaza.
The war against Hamas is advancing with full force, and it has one goal, to win. There is no alternative to victory.
Whereas Antony Blinken stated that the Biden administration opposes “the reoccupation” of Gaza by Israel and envisages a unified Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank at some point as a step toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Once the war ends, Gaza will be remilitarized and Israel will retain security control there, meaning Israeli forces should be able to enter Gaza unhindered to search for militants, according to Netanyahu.
Pressure on Israel intensified after doctors at Gaza’s largest hospital reported in an emergency that the last generator had run out of fuel, leading to the deaths of a premature baby, another baby in an incubator and four other patients. Thousands of wounded, medical staff and displaced civilians were caught up in the fighting.
Fighting in the Al Shifa neighbourhood and other hospitals in northern Gaza intensified and medical supplies ran out. Medical staff at Al Shifa Hospital denied the allegations and accused Israel of harming civilians through indiscriminate attacks. The director of Al Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Selmia, said that the hospital suffered a power outage over the weekend.
Six patients, including two children, died at Al Shifa after the generator was switched off, Health Ministry officials said.
“Medical devices stopped. Patients, especially those in intensive care, started to die,” he said by phone, with gunfire and explosions in the background. He said Israeli troops were “shooting at anyone outside or inside the hospital” and prevented movement between buildings.
The World Health Organization later reported that it had lost contact with its staff at Al-Shifa.
The Israeli side confirmed clashes outside the hospital, but Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari denied that Al Shifa was under siege. He said Israeli forces would assist in moving children in the hospital on Sunday and said “we are speaking directly and regularly” with hospital staff.
Al Shifa still has 1,500 patients, 1,500 medical staff and between 15,000 and 20,000 asylum seekers, the health ministry said.
Participants at a meeting of Muslim and Arab leaders from 57 countries in Saudi Arabia called in a communique for an end to the war in Gaza and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid. They also called on the UN International Court of Justice to launch an investigation into the Israeli attacks, saying the war “cannot be called self-defence and cannot be justified under any means.”
Netanyahu said Hamas alone was responsible for any damage to civilians.
The U.S. have been pushing for days for temporary breaks that would allow more widespread distribution of much-needed aid to civilians in the besieged territory, where conditions have become increasingly appalling. But Israel has only agreed to short daily periods during which civilians can leave the ground fighting zone in northern Gaza and walk south along the main north-south road.
More than 11,070 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. Some 2,700 people are reported missing and may be trapped or have died under rubble.
