The rising number of casualties and severe humanitarian crisis have resulted in mounting international pressure on Israel to reduce its military campaign and to consent to a framework for the establishment of a Palestinian state after the war.
Reuters
The growing death toll and dire humanitarian situation have led to increasing international pressure on Israel to scale back the offensive and agree to a pathway for the creation of a Palestinian state after the war. The United States, which has provided crucial military aid for the offensive, has joined those calls.
But Benjamin Netanyahu, whose popularity has plummeted since Oct. 7 and whose governing coalition is beholden to far-right parties, has rebuffed both demands.
Instead, he has said Israel will need to expand operations and eventually take over the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have fled from other areas are packed into overflowing U.N-run shelters and sprawling tent camps.
That drew an angry protest from Egypt’s government, which rejected Israeli allegations that Hamas smuggles in weapons across the heavily guarded frontier.
Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said Monday that any Israeli move to occupy the border area would “lead to a serious threat” to relations between the two countries, which signed a landmark peace treaty over four decades ago. Egypt is also deeply concerned about any potential influx of Palestinian refugees into its Sinai Peninsula.
Rashwan said Egypt was in full control of the border after taking a number of measures in recent years, including the creation of a 5-kilometer (3-mile) buffer zone and the construction of barriers above and below ground.
Egypt “is capable of defending its interests and sovereignty over its land and borders, and will not mortgage it in the hands of a group of extremist Israeli leaders who seek to drag the region into a state of conflict and instability,” Rashwan said.
Families of the hostages and many of their supporters have called for Israel to reach a cease-fire deal, saying that time is running out to bring the hostages home alive. On Monday, dozens of hostages’ relatives stormed a parliamentary committee meeting, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas crossed the border on Oct. 7, killed over 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. More than 100 were released in November in exchange for a weeklong cease-fire and the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The offensive has caused widespread destruction, displaced an estimated 85% of Gaza’s population and left over 25,000 Palestinians dead, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory. The United Nations and international aid agencies say the fighting has caused a humanitarian disaster, with a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people facing starvation.
The war has heightened regional tensions, with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen attacking United States and Israeli targets in support of Palestinians. The U.S. and Britain launched another wave of strikes Monday against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have targeted international shipping in the Red Sea in what they portray as a blockade of Israel. – apnews.com