Biden Considering Visiting Israel Amidst Escalating Conflict

Biden considering visiting Israel

Biden has emphasized that Hamas does not represent the entire Palestinian people, but the invasion and the “elimination of the extremists” is a necessary requirement, Biden added.

The US president is considering visiting Israel in the near future, AP reports.

But the former US ambassador to Yemen and the former deputy consul general in Jerusalem, Gerald Feierstein, stated in an interview with the BBC that there are already noticeable changes in the language of Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken regarding what is happening in Israel. Statements by both officials increasingly focus on the humanitarian situation and concerns.

According to the diplomat, an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza is inevitable, but it is becoming clear that Israel may not have much time.

He also drew attention to the concern that the group “Hezbollah” could get involved in the conflict and Iran is also threatening to do so.

European Union leaders have also indicated that they support Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with humanitarian and international law. However, from several non-Western countries there is growing concern that Israel’s steps – the blockade of Gaza, the bombing, the demand for the evacuation of people – currently look not like self-defense, but revenge.

News appeared on Sunday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the actions and policies of “Hamas” do not represent the Palestinian people. His comments came after a phone call between Abbas and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. This was reported by the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority “Wafa”. However, his statement was later changed and it is not specified why. In the revised statement, the group “Hamas” has been removed and is no longer mentioned. Condemnation of terrorist acts by the Palestinian Authority has still not followed.

Israeli army: About half a million residents have left northern Gaza

The UN reported on Sunday that Israel has warned more than a million Palestinians living in northern Gaza to leave the territory immediately, and are now heading south in convoys of overcrowded cars and even animal-drawn carts. The refugees are mainly accommodated in temporary shelters set up by the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health also reported that another 9,600 people were injured in the airstrikes and that the bombing continues.

The Israeli army says that about half a million of its residents have left northern Gaza so far. Army spokesman Jonathan Conrick accused Hamas of making it difficult for people to move south.

Conrick stressed that the Israeli army maintains two safe evacuation routes and that it would not be safe for civilians to remain in northern Gaza as the military operation approaches. An army spokesman claimed that the army does not deliberately target civilians, but implicitly acknowledged that it is not always possible for the Israeli army to avoid civilian casualties in its operations.

Almost two and a half thousand people have died in the strikes carried out by Israel on the Gaza Strip, and about 1,000 have disappeared under the ruins.

The Israeli army, on the other hand, reports that approximately 1,500 Palestinian fighters have been killed in the battles on the territory of the country, while 126 hostages are in the hands of terrorists, who were captured during the October 7 attack.

Meanwhile, the population of Khan Younes, a city in the south of the Gaza Strip, has grown rapidly as people from the north seek refuge there. The city used to be home to around 400,000 people, but now its population exceeds a million. The local hospital not only accepts patients, but has also become a place of refuge.

As the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip worsens, there are increasing shortages of water, food, energy and medicine. The lives of thousands of patients in hospitals are at risk because they will run out of fuel in the next 24 hours, the UN warns.

The UN said the Middle East is “on the brink of an abyss” and is asking Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

CONTEXT:

Militants of the Palestinian Islamist group “Hamas” launched a surprise attack from the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7, firing several thousand rockets and infiltrating several locations in Israel. Hamas and its allies have also seized hostages taken to the Gaza Strip.

The invasion took Israeli intelligence and security forces by surprise. Israel has officially declared martial law. In response to Hamas, Israel launched extensive air and artillery strikes against Hamas targets in the group’s controlled Gaza Strip. Israel implements a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and water supplies to the territory.

Israel has ordered a 24-hour evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip, home to 1.1 million people, in preparation for a possible ground invasion. The representative of the UN Secretary General stated that such a huge evacuation of the population in a short time without “devastating humanitarian consequences” is not possible.

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2023-10-16 05:29:25
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