Israel claims to be encircling Gaza City as Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv

GAUZE:

Israel claimed its forces had encircled Gaza City as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived back in Tel Aviv to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The United States was to pressure Netanyahu to agree to ceasefires to allow aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its brutal assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel.

With the conflict nearing the end of its fourth week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Israel for the second time in a month to meet Netanyahu as the Israeli army battled Hamas militants, who responded with underground attacks tunnels. .

“We are at the height of the battle. We have had impressive successes and passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are moving forward,” Netanyahu said in a statement after the army announced it had encircled the coastal enclave’s main city.

As Blinken left Washington for the Middle East, he said he would discuss concrete measures to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza. The White House, meanwhile, said any pauses in fighting would have to be temporary and local and insisted they would not stop Israel from defending itself.

Mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians, along with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, have intensified calls from world leaders for a cessation of fighting or a ceasefire.

Israel has rejected those calls, saying it is targeting Hamas fighters it accuses of deliberately hiding among the population and civilian buildings. The White House has also dismissed calls for a ceasefire.

A panel of independent United Nations experts has warned that Palestinians in Gaza are at “serious risk of genocide”.

“We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time,” the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a statement.

The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva called the rapporteur’s comments “deplorable and deeply disturbing” and blamed Hamas for the civilian deaths. Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the determination of genocide can only be made by a competent UN judicial body.

The White House said Thursday it was considering a series of pauses in the conflict.

“What we’re trying to do is explore the idea of ​​as many pauses as necessary to continue to get aid out and continue to work to get people out safely, including the hostages,” US National Security spokesman John Kirby.

Blinken was also due to meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman on Saturday. In a statement, Safadi said Israel must end the war in Gaza, where he said it was committing war crimes by shelling civilians and imposing a siege.

The Gulf Arab power, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), warned on Friday that tension in the Middle East is “reaching a boiling point” and that it is working “non-stop” to achieve an immediate and complete humanitarian ceasefire.

“The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk of extremist groups taking advantage of the situation to promote ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence,” Noura al-Kaabi, the foreign minister of foreign affairs, told a conference in Abu Dhabi.

Hamas fighters emerge from tunnels

Amid heavy explosions in Gaza, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that “his country’s troops have completed the encirclement of Gaza City, which is the center of the terrorist organization Hamas.”

Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, head of Israel’s military engineers, said troops were encountering mines and booby traps.

“Hamas has learned and is preparing well,” he said.

Abu Ubaydah, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, said in a televised address Thursday that Israel’s death toll in Gaza was far higher than the military had announced. “Your soldiers will return with black bags,” he said.

Israel said it had lost 18 soldiers and claimed its forces had killed dozens of Palestinian fighters since ground operations expanded last Friday.

Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad fighters would emerge from the tunnels to shoot at tanks and then disappear back into the network, residents said, showing videos from both groups.

Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US was flying intelligence-gathering drones over Gaza to help locate hostages. One of the officials said they had been conducting drone flights for over a week.

More foreigners due to evacuation

The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt was to open for a third day on Friday to limited evacuations under a Qatar-brokered deal aimed at letting some foreign passport holders, their dependents and some injured Gazans out of the pouch.

According to border officials, more than 700 foreign nationals have left for Egypt through Rafah in the past two days. Dozens of Palestinians who were seriously injured were also due to pass through. Israel asked foreign countries to send them hospital ships.

Thailand said it was in contact with Iran and other governments that may be in contact with Hamas for the safe release of nearly a dozen Thai nationals held hostage.

Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said on Friday that Iran, which is close to Hamas, had promised to help in the negotiations.

More than a third of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are not functioning, with many turned into makeshift refugee camps.

“The situation is beyond catastrophic,” said the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, describing crowded corridors and many doctors who were themselves bereaved and homeless.