US President Joe Biden met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and called on the Israeli leader to swiftly finalise a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of remaining captives.
"President Biden expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalise the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza," according to a White House readout, which added they discussed the "humanitarian crisis" in the embattled Palestinian territory and the need to remove obstacles to the flow of aid.
Israel's nearly 10-month-old war on Gaza has killed over 39,000 people and completely devastated the enclave.
Israel said one of its soldiers had died in the southern city of Rafah, as airstrikes continued to pound the central city of Khan Younis and other parts of the coastal strip.
Israeli officials criticised U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris after she said it was time for the war in Gaza to end given the suffering of Palestinians being caused by the fighting.
"There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this [ceasefire] deal, and as I just told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done," she said. "We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent."
Both Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leaders of two hardline religious nationalist parties whose support is vital for Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, condemned Harris' remarks.
"Madam candidate, there will be no cessation of hostilities," Ben-Gvir wrote on the social media platform X.
Several rockets were launched Thursday and Friday against bases hosting troops from the US-led anti-Islamic State group coalition in Iraq and Syria, security officials and a war monitor said.
"Four rockets fell in the vicinity" of Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province, an Iraqi security source said. Another security official said an attack occurred with "a drone and three rockets" that fell close to the base perimeter.
A United States official said initial reports indicated that projectiles landed outside the base without causing injuries or damage to the base.
At least one rocket also fell near a base of the coalition in the Conoco gas field in Deir Ezzor province of eastern Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The Observatory said a blast was heard in the area but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The rocket was fired from "zones under the control of pro-Iranian militia" groups, said the monitor which relies on sources inside Syria.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday for the first time in nearly four years at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
A Hamas leader in the occupied West Bank died in Israeli custody, Palestinian authorities and the militant group said Friday.
Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara, 63, died after being moved from a prison in southern Israel to a hospital, according to a joint statement by the Palestinian Authority's prisoners affairs body and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club watchdog.
"We mourn the passing of the leader and prisoner Sheikh Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara and hold the occupation responsible for his assassination through deliberate medical neglect," Hamas said in a statement.
Abu Ara was arrested in October while suffering severe health problems, the Palestinian body and the watchdog said.
During his detainment he was subjected to torture and starvation, they added.
The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war on Gaza.
No comments:
Post a Comment