Israeli troops yesterday battled Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, with no sign of a letup in the war despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an “immediate ceasefire.”
The resolution was adopted on Monday after Israel’s closest ally the US abstained amid growing concern for the worsening humanitarian situation after nearly six months of war.
The text demands an “immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan, leading to a “lasting” truce.
Photo: Reuters
It also demands that Hamas and other militants free hostages they took during the unprecedented attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, although it does not directly link the release to a truce.
In Gaza, there was intense fighting overnight, with Israeli operations in and around at least three major hospitals in the besieged territory.
The Israeli military said its jets had struck more than 60 targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including tunnels, infrastructure and military structures “in which armed terrorists were identified.”
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 70 people were killed early yesterday, 13 of them in Israeli airstrikes around the southern city of Rafah.
The UN Security Council resolution was the first since the Gaza war erupted to demand an immediate halt to the fighting.
After the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres led calls for the resolution to be implemented.
“Failure would be unforgivable,” he wrote on social media.
Israel reacted furiously to the US abstention, while Washington insisted that it did not mark a shift in policy, although it has been taking a tougher line with Israel.
The US had previously vetoed successive draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire, but it has become increasingly concerned by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN has warned of famine in the north by May if urgent action is not taken.
Washington has also baulked at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s determination to launch an assault on Rafah, the last major population center untouched by Israeli ground troops where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from the fighting.
In protest at the US’ abstention in the UN vote, which it said “hurts” both its war effort and attempts to release hostages, Israel canceled a planned visit to Washington by a high-ranking delegation.
Hamas welcomed the resolution and reaffirmed its readiness to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
In a statement, the militant group blamed Israel for the failure to make progress in the latest round of talks hosted by Qatar.
Hamas said Netanyahu and his Cabinet were “entirely responsible for the failure of negotiation efforts and for preventing an agreement from being reached up until now.”
Netanyahu’s office hit back on social media, charging that Hamas was “not interested in continuing negotiations” as it had been emboldened by the UN Security Council vote.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran yesterday for talks with Iranian officials, state media reported. It was Haniyeh’s second visit to key backer Iran since the start of the war.
In the occupied West Bank, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
She welcomed the US Security Council resolution and said it was “in the absolute interest of the people of Israel that we come to a ceasefire now so that the hostages can be released.”
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS