US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Monday accused Israel’s military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing US frustration with its close ally as the war approaches its first anniversary.
Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas militants, who often hide with civilians and use them as human shields, in retaliation for last year’s Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza.
Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military at a UN Security Council meeting, saying many of the strikes in recent weeks that injured or killed UN personnel and humanitarian workers “were preventable.”
Photo: AFP
Many council members cited last week’s Israeli strike on a former school turned civilian shelter run by the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in which six UNRWA staffers were among at least 18 people killed, including women and children.
Israel said it targeted a Hamas command-and-control center in the compound, and Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon on Monday reiterated that Hamas militants were killed in the strike. He named four, telling the council that they worked for UNRWA during the day and Hamas at night.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.
Thomas-Greenfield told council members that the US would keep raising the need for Israel to facilitate humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territory, and protect humanitarian workers and facilities such as the UNRWA shelter.
She also reiterated US “outrage” at the death of Turkish American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed during a protest in the West Bank last week.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government has begun a criminal investigation.
“The IDF is a professional military and knows well how to ensure that incidents such as these do not happen,” the US envoy said.
Thomas-Greenfield said the US expects Israeli military leaders to implement “fundamental changes” in their operations — including to their rules of engagement and procedures to ensure that military operations do not conflict with humanitarian activities, and do not target schools and other civilian facilities.
“We have also been unequivocal in communicating to Israel that there is no basis — absolutely none — for its forces to be opening fire on clearly marked UN vehicles as recently occurred on numerous occasions,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
At the same time, she said Hamas is also hiding in — and in some cases, taking over or using — civilian sites, which poses “an ongoing threat.”
She said it underscores the urgency of reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
While the US works with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to get both sides “to agree that enough is enough,” she said, “this is ultimately a question of political will” and difficult compromises.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt this week for talks partly about refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas.
The US urges “all council members with influence over Hamas to join others in pressing its leaders to stop stalling, make these compromises and accept the deal without delay,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
In related news, a survey published yesterday showed that a majority of Gazans believe Hamas’ decision to launch the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was incorrect, pointing to a big drop in backing for the assault that prompted Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive.
The poll, conducted early this month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), found that 57 percent of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while 39 percent said it was correct.
It marked the first time since Oct. 7 that a PSR poll found a majority of Gazan respondents judging the decision as incorrect.
It was accompanied by a drop in support for the attack in the West Bank, although a majority of 64 percent of respondents there still thought it was the correct decision, the poll found.
PSR’s previous poll, conducted in June, showed that 57 percent of respondents in Gaza thought the decision to be correct.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military offensive that has laid waste to the Gaza Strip since October last year, the Gaza health ministry said.
Israel launched its assault after the unprecedented Hamas raid which killed 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
PSR said it surveyed 1,200 people face-to-face, 790 of them in the West Bank and 410 in Gaza, with a 3.5 percent margin of error.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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