Israeli strikes hit Gaza yesterday as Muslims marked the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan and after US President Joe Biden labeled Israel’s approach to the war a “mistake.”
Palestinians gathered for morning prayers on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday amid the ruins of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than six months of war since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Tens of thousands also flocked to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound where one worshiper, nurse Rawan Abd, said: “It’s the saddest Eid ever... You could see the sadness on people’s faces.
Photo: AFP
“Usually we come to Al-Aqsa to celebrate, this year we came just to support each other,” the 32-year-old said at Islam’s third-holiest site, which is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.
Israeli forces kept up combat operations and airstrikes on Gaza a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed no let-up in the campaign to destroy Hamas and bring home the hostages.
Netanyahu said that “no force in the world” would stop Israeli troops from entering the city of Rafah which is packed with displaced Palestinians.
Photo: Reuters
His threat came amid ongoing talks in Cairo involving US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators for a truce and hostage release deal.
Biden, voicing his growing frustration with Netanyahu, issued some of his sternest criticism yet of the war, which has brought mass civilian casualties and widespread suffering.
“I think what he’s doing is a mistake,” Biden told Spanish-language TV network Univision in an interview that aired on Tuesday night after being recorded last week. “I don’t agree with his approach.”
Photo: Reuters
He urged Netanyahu to “just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country.”
The Israeli army said yesterday that its “troops are continuing to operate in the central Gaza Strip and killed a number of terrorists over the past day.”
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