“A mistake”: American President Joe Biden has issued one of his strongest criticisms of the military strategy in Gaza of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who must justify his level of humanitarian aid to this threatened Palestinian territory before the Supreme Court on Wednesday of famine.
“Not very encouraging” statements, judges the White House
In Cairo, the mediating countries – Qatar, Egypt, United States – put a new proposal on the table in three stages on Sunday. The first provides for a six-week truce, the release of 42 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 800 to 900 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the entry of 400 to 500 trucks of food aid per day and the return home of the inhabitants of northern Gaza Strip displaced by the war, according to a source within Hamas.
Hamas said it was “studying the proposal” before transmitting its response to mediators, adding that Israel “had not responded to any” of its requests. The White House on Tuesday deemed these statements “not very encouraging”. “What I’m asking is that the Israelis call for a ceasefire, that they allow for the next six or eight weeks full access to food and medicine coming into the country,” he said on Tuesday. evening US President Joe Biden in an interview with the Spanish-speaking channel Univision.
“I think what he is doing is wrong. I don’t agree with his approach,” he added in response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin’s conduct of the Gaza war. Netanyahu, whose security cabinet met Tuesday evening to discuss the truce plan.
“100 years ago”
Despite warnings from foreign capitals, including from his American ally, Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, which he presents as the last major bastion of Hamas, in power since 2007 in the Gaza Strip. This border town with Egypt is home, according to the UN, to around a million and a half people, the majority displaced, leading to fears of a worsening human toll in the event of a land offensive there.
Israel announced on Sunday the withdrawal of its troops from the large neighboring city of Khan Younes, destroyed after several months of fighting. “We went back 100 years. As you can see, there is no shelter, no clothes, no water supply, no roads, and people are trying to manage the situation,” he told AFP. Salim Chourab, a Palestinian returning to his town.
“What can we say except that God is sufficient for us and is our best ally? Honestly, I don’t know where my house is anymore, I mean it’s in this area, but I I don’t know exactly where,” he added among the rubble. The soldiers withdrew from Khan Younes in order to prepare “the continuation of their missions in the Rafah area”, underline the Israeli authorities.
“We will complete the elimination of Hamas battalions, including in Rafah. No force in the world will stop us,” Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday. But according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, an Israeli operation in Rafah does not appear “imminent”.
“Radical change”
Israel is also facing very strong international pressure to allow more aid to pass into the territory threatened by famine according to the UN. In mid-March, five NGOs submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court in the hope that the authorities would “respect their obligations as an occupying power” by providing all necessary aid to Gaza’s civilian population. After a first hearing last week, the court gave the government until April 10 to answer a series of questions on humanitarian policy in Gaza.
Ahead of the deadline, authorities said 468 trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the highest number in one day since the start of the war. “We are seeing a radical change that we hope will continue and expand,” the head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power said in the Senate on Tuesday, calling on Israel to let in more than 500 trucks per day because “conditions are approaching famine in Gaza” after six months of uninterrupted violence.
More than 250 people were kidnapped on October 7 and 129 remain detained in Gaza, including 34 who have died, according to Israeli officials. On Tuesday, families of hostages met with US Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House. “We want to see results, we need our loved ones to come home,” Rachel Goldberg, whose son, Hersh, was kidnapped, said after the meeting.