Tensions simmer after Russia and China vetoed a U.S. sponsored resolution last week, the U.N. Security Council approved a new resolution yesterday, demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during the holy month of Ramadhan, which ends April 9th.1 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a delegation that was supposed to visit the White House this week.2 He accused the U.S. of hurting Israel’s war effort by failing to veto the cease-fire resolution.3 US President Joe Biden requested the delegation to discuss the looming ground invasion of Rafah and for the U.S. to offer alternative options to reduce potential civilian casualties.4 (NBC News)
The U.S. had warned that the new resolution, which was backed by Russia and China, could hurt cease-fire negotiations, raising the possibility of another American veto.5 Instead, the U.S. abstained from voting.6 Israel believes the chances of a hostage deal in the near future are 50/50 right now,” an Israeli official told NBC News today.7 The official said Israel and the U.S. are waiting for Hamas to respond to a proposal hammered out in Qatar in recent days.8 After Vice President Kamala Harris refused to rule out that Israel could face consequences if it makes the “mistake” of invading Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, Israeli defence Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington meeting with senior US officials.9 (NBC News)
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also warned today that a ground assault on Rafah “would cause a humanitarian disaster.”10 More than 1 million Palestinians, many of them displaced from other parts of the enclave, are sheltering in the city.11 Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Jordan, Guterres said there is “growing international consensus to tell Israel that a cease-fire is needed.”12 (NBC News)
The risk of a looming ground invasion by Israel does not spell good news for the Palestinian news. Israel for its part is not interested in a peaceful ceasefire resolution, they are willing to practically wipe out the entire Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, not just retrieve or rescue the remaining hostages. Their intent to wipe out Hamas carries its own risk; they are not afraid that the group’s destruction will spawn something much worse in its place. Netanyahu, his coalition-partners and supporters are dangerously out of touch with reality and any attempt to stop them has not been taken. US President Biden is unlikely to take a harsher stance on the matter.
The Israeli regime does not want direct negotiations with Hamas, they just want the group to hand over the hostages without acceding to any of the group’s demands. These demands include an end to the desecration of Masjid-al-Aqsa and the release of thousands of prisoners languishing in Jails in the West Bank. The prisoners are being held under administrative detention with out trial. However, the chances of Hamas agreeing to the resolution brokered by Qatar could only be met if Netanyahu is removed from power. Netanyahu is a stubborn and hyper-sensitive man who will not adhere to reason. He refuses to acknowledge the crimes he has committed against the Palestinians nor will he release the Palestinians in administrative detention in exchange for peace.
Washington is saying that they are willing to allow the deployment of Israeli troops to Rafah to keep the negotiations afloat. The result is that the American political leadership does not even (now) care about the number of deaths and atrocities committed by the Israelis against the Palestinians. President Biden is quite willing to turn a blind eye to Israel’s crimes and still stubbornly continues the flow of economic and military aid to the Zionist state with the backing of most of the US Congress. This comes as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says that a major Israeli ground assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah would be a “mistake” and unnecessary to defeating Hamas.13 (AP news)
Blinken stated this on March the 21st after meeting with top Arab diplomats in Cairo for discussions over efforts for a cease-fire and over ideas for Gaza’s post conflict future.14 Meanwhile the Palestinians who fled an ongoing Israel raid of Gaza’s main hospital described mass arrests and forced marches passed bodies in interviews on Sunday, while the United Nations said Israel is now blocking its main agency helping Palestinians from sending food aid to the enclave’s devastating north.15 Israel’s military says it has killed more than 170 militants and detained about 480 suspects in the raid on Shifa Hospital that began Monday, calling it a blow to Hamas and other armed groups it says had regrouped there as the war nears the six-month mark.16 (AP news)
Well, it looks like the situation is only worsening since the United Nations actually passed the non-binding cease-fire resolution. Nothing concrete will be achieved without enforcing sanctions on the Zionist state. This should have been done a long time ago when Israel moved some of its soldiers to assault worshippers in Al-Aqsa, as well as enforce evictions in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The red flag that Hamas was going to go through with the attack on October the Eight was the imprisonment of the thousand Palestinians with out trial in the said West Bank. Now it is ultimately the men, women and children of Gaza who are paying the price. Only time will tell how this plays out and what repercussion the Israelis will have to face in the future.
