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Israeli PM Netanyahu yields to global pressures for a Gaza ceasefire – Sending delegation to Qatar for peace talks

By Ashe N Ayer

As global pressure mounted on immediate ceasefire in the Gaza,  in the on-going war between Israeli Ground Forces (IDF) and the militant outfit Hamas,  led by the United Nations and the US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yielded giving the green signal for a new round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire. He promised to send an Israeli delegation to Qatar for talks, a country in the Middle East which has been virtually working round the clock to maintain peace in the region. It had helped in the release of over 140 hostages, 100 are still in custody of the Iran backed Hamas.

Netanyahu’s go ahead came atop the world’s top court , The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague in Netherlands order directing Israel to ensure aid reaches desperate civilians. Though UN Security Council resolution binding on Israel to declare ceasefire earlier this week, fighting continued unabated in Gaza Friday, including around its few functioning hospitals per media reports.

British news agency Reuters quoted Netanyahu’s office saying new talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release will take place in Doha and Cairo “in the coming days… with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations”.

In the meantime, the Hamas backed Palestinian health ministry in the conflict zone claimed dozens of people were killed overnight. Over 12 people killed in their homes in the southern city of Rafah, bombed repeatedly ahead of a threatened Israeli ground operation. The same ministry claimed that 32,000 civilians had been killed in the Israeli ground incursions and Israel claimed that 2,000 soldiers were lost in the war.

Using the light of mobile phones rescued teams worked to free people trapped under the debris, AFP-TV images showed. Regional fallout from the conflict has also shown an uptick.  With Israel saying it killed a Hezbollah rocket commander in Lebanon and a war monitor saying that Israeli air strikes killed several Hezbollah fighters in Syria.

Talks to achieve a lasting ceasefire to enable people trapped in the conflict zone to escape to regions of safety in the narrow enclave had appeared deadlocked in recent days despite the US initiative for a way forward and mediators such as Egypt and Qatar to secure a truce in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, now more than half way through.

Famine ‘setting in’:  The ICJ in The Hague said it had endorsed South Africa’s argument that any further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza required Israel to do more. “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but… famine is setting in,” it said. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the ruling was “a stark reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man-made (and) worsening”. A UN-backed report released last week warned that half of Gazans are feeling “catastrophic” hunger and projected imminent famine in the territory’s north.

The Israeli defence ministry entity responsible for Palestinian civil affairs (COGAT) hit back on Friday, alleging the assessment was based on questionable sources and contained factual inaccuracies.  The ICJ had ruled in January that Israel must facilitate “urgently needed” humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The latest ICJ ruling is binding on Israel which has little means of enforcement, as Israel’s military said it was continuing operations in Gaza’s largest hospital Al-Shifa for a 12th day.

Fighting around Gaza hospitals: The United Nations says Gaza’s health system is collapsing “due to ongoing hostilities and access constraints”. Israel’s military accused Hamas and the Islamic Jihad of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and displaced people as human shields for cover — charges the militants have denied.

The IDF said Friday the army was “continuing precise operation activities in Shifa Hospital” where it began a raid early last week. Troops first raided Al-Shifa in November, but the army says Palestinian militants have since returned. About 200 militants have been killed during the latest Al-Shifa operation, it said. In north Gaza’s Shati refugee camp, Amany, a 44-year-old mother of seven, described how it felt to live under relentless Israeli bombardment.

“Explosions and air strikes go on throughout the night, it’s petrifying,” she said. “I feel like I’m living a continuous nightmare that doesn’t want to end.”

Netanyahu said on Thursday that troops “are holding the northern Gaza Strip” and also the southern city of Khan Yunis, amid heavy fighting. Near Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, IDF has made  “targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure”, crushing dozens in combat backed by air support, the army said  Thursday. Israeli tanks surrounded another Khan Yunis health facility, the Nasser Hospital, the Gaza health ministry said.

Syria, Lebanon strikes: The Israel Hamas war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 32,623 people, mostly women and children, according to health ministry figures. The Palestinian health ministry is backed by Hamas which supplies the figures.

Palestinian militants have seized 250 hostages. Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead. Since the Gaza war began, Israel has increased its strikes on Syria, targeting army positions and those of Iran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a key Hamas ally.

A Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Israeli air strikes killed seven Hezbollah fighters. The Israeli military said it killed the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit in south Lebanon, Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, in an air strike. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant toured the army’s northern command on Friday “to closely examine another successful termination like the one that was executed this morning”, he said in a post as quoted by Reuters.

Yuv Gallant said the army would sustain its operations against Hezbollah, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah, who  was to blame for the consequences, including members killed and wounded. “We will make them pay a price for every attack that comes out from Lebanon,” he said.

Recent days have seen an uptick in deadly exchanges, and the White House has called on both Israel and Lebanon to put a high priority on restoring calm.