Israeli forces yesterday pounded Gaza, meeting stiff resistance from Hamas Islamists and sending thousands of residents fleeing, as US Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Israel ceasefire talks had made some progress.
In a blow to Israel’s economy and a public relations coup for Hamas, US and European air carriers halted flights to the Jewish state, citing concern over a militant rocket from Gaza that hit a house near Ben Gurion airport. Israel urged a rethink, saying its airspace was safe.
Adding to pressure on Israel, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay yesterday said there was “a strong possibility” that it was committing war crimes in Gaza, where 645 Palestinians have died in the fighting, mostly civilians.
Photo: AFP
“There seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” Pillay told an emergency session at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
She also condemned indiscriminate, militant rocket and mortar attacks out of Gaza.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said the UN rights council was an “anti-Israel” body.
Photo: AFP
Israel also stepped up the war of words, accusing Hamas of using fellow Gazans as human shields.
Making an unannounced, one-day visit, Kerry was due to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, signaling an intensification of efforts to end the bloodshed.
“We have certainly made some steps forward. There is still work to be done,” Kerry said shortly after arriving.
About 29 Israeli soldiers have been killed so far in the conflagration, including a tank officer shot by a Palestinian sniper overnight. Three civilians have died in rocket attacks out of Gaza, including a foreign worker hit yesterday.
The military says one of its soldiers is also missing and believes he might be dead. Hamas says it has captured him, but has not released a picture of him in their hands.
Already hurt by mass tourist cancellations, Israel faced increased economic pressure after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took the rare step on Tuesday of banning flights to Tel Aviv for at least 24 hours.
Many other international airlines, on heightened alert after a Malaysian airliner was shot down over Ukraine last week, followed suit, while Israel’s own carriers continued to operate.
In a move that could effectively turn Abbas into the main Palestinian point person for any Gaza truce, his umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) yesterday formally supported core conditions set by the Hamas-led fighters.
These demands include the release of hundreds of Hamas supporters recently arrested in the nearby West Bank and an end to the Egyptian-Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has stymied the economy and made it near impossible for anyone to travel abroad.
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