HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I After a war that has raged for close to a month, the Gaza Strip where Israel has focused its attention in fighting terrorism and extremism, has been cut into two parts.
“Now there exists a south Gaza and a north Gaza,” the Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced recently after confirming that the Israeli forces have encircled Gaza City.
Images showed civilians heading south away from the fighting, though Hagari told foreign reporters Hamas was using roadblocks to try to prevent them from fleeing.
Israel has distributed leaflets and sent text messages urging Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza to head south. However, a US official said Saturday at least 350,000 civilians remained in what is now an urban war zone.
The recent flare up reflects Israel’s goal of crushing Hamas which staged the worst attack in the country’s history on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people, also mostly civilians, and taking over 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
There is increasing global concern over the spiraling Gaza death toll, as the Hamas-run territory said at least 9,770 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in more than four weeks of war.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister reiterated that there won’t be a ceasefire until the hostages are returned.
He spoke after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the occupied West Bank, Iraq and Cyprus on Sunday, whose mission is on aid for beleaguered civilians in Gaza. Blinken met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas who denounced what he called genocide in Gaza.
TWO STATE SOLUTION
Blinken, in his talks with Abbas, said Palestinians in Gaza must not be forcibly displaced, adding that he was to push on with his Middle East tour focused on humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
Abbas said the Palestinian Authority (PA) could return to power in Gaza in the future only if a comprehensive political solution is found for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Washington has said it backs a Palestinian state alongside Israel, in a “Two state solution,” following a war that has also exacerbated tensions in the West Bank, where more than 150 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces and in settler attacks.
Blinken and Abbas also discussed the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians.
Since Israel sent ground forces into the north of Gaza late October, over 2,500 terror targets have been struck by ground, air and naval forces, according to Israeli military sources.
