GAZA/JERUSALEM:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would consider “small tactical pauses” in fighting to facilitate the entry of aid or the exit of hostages from the Gaza Strip, but again rejected calls for a ceasefire despite international pressure.
Having surrounded the densely populated Gaza City in the north of the enclave, home to the Hamas resistance group, the Israeli army claimed it had captured a militant compound and was about to attack fighters hiding in underground tunnels.
Israel has bombed the enclave since Hamas invaded southern Israel a month ago, when its fighters killed 1,400 people and took 240 hostages.
The brutal Israeli assault killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, including at least 4,100 children.
Israel has repeatedly rejected growing calls for an end to the fighting. He says the hostages must be released first. Hamas says it will release all hostages if Israel stops shelling Gaza, adding it will not stop fighting until the offensive begins.
Netanyahu said a blanket ceasefire would hamper his country’s war effort, but a humanitarian ceasefire, an idea supported by Israel’s top ally the United States, would continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis .
Israeli forces launch flares over Gaza. PHOTO: Reuters
“In terms of the little tactical pauses – an hour here, an hour there – we’ve had them in the past. I guess we’ll check the conditions to allow goods in, humanitarian goods or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave,” said Netanyahu on ABC News on Monday.
“But I don’t think there will be a general ceasefire.”
US President Joe Biden discussed such pauses and possible hostage releases in a phone call with Netanyahu on Monday, reiterating his support for Israel while stressing that it must protect civilians, the White House said.
Like Israel, the US fears that Hamas will take advantage of a full ceasefire to regroup.
Netanyahu said that when the conflict is over, he thinks, “Israel will indefinitely have overall responsibility for security (in Gaza) because we have seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility.”
Calling for an urgent ceasefire, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that Gaza was becoming a “cemetery for children”.
“Israeli defense forces’ ground operations and continuous shelling are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and UN facilities – including shelters. No one is safe,” Guterres told reporters.
Reading Israel steps up brutal strikes on Gaza despite calls for ceasefire
“At the same time, Hamas and other militants are using civilians as human shields and continue to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israel,” he said.
International agencies have said hospitals are unable to deal with the wounded and food and clean water are running out with aid deliveries not close enough.
“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now,” said a statement from the heads of several UN bodies on Monday.
Hundreds of protesters, many from the group Jewish Voice for Peace, staged a sit-in on Monday outside New York’s Statue of Liberty, calling for a ceasefire and a free Palestine.
Videos on social media showed crowds of activists sitting at the base of the statue chanting “Never again for anyone, never again is now,” echoing a Jewish rallying cry in the wake of the Holocaust.
A Jewish man who was knocked to the ground in a scuffle during pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests in California died Monday and was ruled a homicide, law enforcement and a Jewish organization said.
Gaza City was cut off
The Israeli military released video on Monday of tanks moving through bombed streets and groups of troops moving on foot. It says it has encircled Gaza City, cutting off the northern parts of the narrow coastal strip from the south.
In a press briefing, chief military spokesman Vice Admiral Daniel Haggari said troops were hunting Hamas commanders at the field level to weaken the resistance’s ability to “carry out counterattacks.”
An Israeli tank is seen inside Gaza. PHOTO: Reuters
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Monday. The 15-member body is still trying to agree on a resolution after failing four times in two weeks to take action. Diplomats said a key obstacle is whether to call for a ceasefire, a cessation of hostilities or humanitarian pauses to allow aid to reach Gaza.
At a meeting of foreign ministers from the leading G7 democracies in Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said the group planned to call for a ceasefire and allow humanitarian access to Gaza.
The Biden administration has informed the US Congress that it plans to ship $320 million in precision bombs to Israel, a source familiar with the plan said on Monday.
Israel said on Monday it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to a barrage of rockets fired at towns in northern Israel. The Israeli military said it detected about 30 rockets fired from Lebanon in an hour.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border since October 7, in the worst fighting there since Hezbollah and Israel fought in 2006.
Hamas said it had fired 16 rockets at Nahariya and southern Haifa in Israel.
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