Recognition of Palestinian statehood is not enough when it comes to Gaza
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Inside Albanese’s firming position on Gaza and Palestinian statehood
Anthony Albanese is preparing for Australia to recognise Palestinian statehood. Once achieved on the world stage, says Labor MP Ed Husic, such statehood would be the final “hammer blow” to the terrorist group Hamas. Albanese has hardened his language and admonished Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Australia took part in a joint “New York call” of 15 foreign affairs ministers this week, in which there was “unwavering commitment to the vision’ of a two-state solution. Among the 15 were France, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Spain, countries that either recognised or had expressed “the willingness or the positive consideration of their countries’ to do so. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry met with the prime minister on Wednesday and came out of the meeting saying PalestinianStatehood is “on the government’’, but it is not imminent. The Saturday Paper understands he has told them it is a matter of when, pointing to the adage that sometimes out of a crisis comes a change.
Amid images of emaciated Gazans and famine alerts from the United Nations, Albanese has hardened his language and admonished Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At the same time, he says several preconditions for Palestinian statehood must be met, including that Hamas would have no ongoing role in the region.
“I’ve said for a long time, my entire political life, I said I support two states: the right of Israel to exist within secure borders, and the right of Palestinians to have their legitimate aspirations for their own state realised,” the prime minister said on Wednesday.
“That’s my objective, not making a statement, not winning a political point, but achieving that. That’s very much my focus.”
Australia took part in a joint “New York call” of 15 foreign affairs ministers this week, in which there was “unwavering commitment to the vision” of a two-state solution and a call for all nations that have not yet recognised a Palestinian state to do so. Among the 15 were France, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Spain, countries that either recognised or had expressed “the willingness or the positive consideration of their countries” to do so.
It’s understood that Albanese has told colleagues the current situation in Gaza is not sustainable and Australian recognition will “obviously” come. The Saturday Paper understands he has told them it is a matter of when, pointing to the adage that sometimes out of a crisis comes a change.
This sentiment was echoed by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Thursday, who said Australian recognition of a state of Palestine was a “matter of when, not if”.
Albanese is also stressing to pro-Palestinian advocates that a Palestinian state and justice can only come from simultaneously getting increased security for Israel.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry met with the prime minister on Wednesday and came out of the meeting saying Palestinian statehood is “on the government’s agenda, but it is not imminent”.
Husic says there is no time to waste.
“I just think the moment has changed and our approach has to reflect that,” the former cabinet minister tells The Saturday Paper. “We also have to contend with this suggestion that we’re rewarding Hamas with the recognition of the state, and the fulfilment of the conditions we expect will be the hammer blow to Hamas.
“The reason I say that is because Hamas’s biggest source of fuel is grievance. If we recognise the state, we demilitarise Hamas, we improve the operations of the Palestinian Authority, and we encourage greater democracy in Palestine – that undercuts, fundamentally, Hamas.
“So, my argument is this actually does counter what the critics suggest.”
Albanese said the world was horrified by the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but it is now watching what is happening in Gaza and sees that it is “unjustified”, a “tragedy” and it is “producing a response”.
Israel imposed a total aid blockade at the start of March. Extreme hunger has gripped a widely displaced civilian population. It also resumed its military offensive against Hamas, shattering a two-month ceasefire and taking control of swathes of a widely flattened territory.
The images of a sick and malnourished 18-month-old child, Mohammed al-Matouq, moved the prime minister to admonish Israel over what he says is a “breach of international law” and a “breach of decent humanity”. He said the control of food deliveries was “completely indefensible”.
“As I have said to the Israeli President Herzog in May, that Israel increasingly is seeing people express their opposition to those actions,” Albanese told reporters in his Parliament House courtyard.
“People who are friends of Israel have to be able to say, ‘what you are doing is losing support’, and that is what is happening.”
When challenged by Netanyahu and the Embassy of Israel in Canberra, who said there was no starvation or policy of starvation in Gaza and that Hamas was using “false pictures” of sick children to present a distorted view, Albanese said the denial was “beyond comprehension”.
Albanese’s position was echoed by United States President Donald Trump, who, while not criticising Netanyahu directly, stated that “real starvation stuff” is happening in Gaza and “you can’t fake that”.
French President Emmanuel Macron took a big step forward this week, announcing that in September France would become the first G7 nation to recognise Palestine statehood.
“I’m concerned that we may be overly committed to a process when the moment demands almost a moral response. I think the country would, as one, welcome an adjusted move that provides recognition now but an expectation that our stated preconditions must be met.”
The United Kingdom government under Labour’s Keir Starmer followed days later, offering a conditional pledge to recognise statehood as a “pathway to peace”, insisting it would act before the UN General Assembly on September 9 if the Israeli government did not take “substantive steps”, including agreeing to a ceasefire. Albanese has spoken to Starmer twice this week.
The change in UK policy was blasted by Netanyahu, with the Israeli leader posting on X that Starmer “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims”.
The UK announcement was also slammed by some of the families of Israeli hostages. One former hostage, Emily Damari, said the decision “risks rewarding terrorism” and sends the message that “violence earns legitimacy”.
Canada joined the UK a day later, promising recognition at the UN General Assembly after receiving assurances from Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas of a raft of changes, including the dismantling of Hamas, the return of Israeli hostages and the holding of elections next year, after not holding one for 20 years.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told the UN General Assembly last year that Australia no longer sees Palestinian recognition as the destination of a peace process but rather as a contribution of momentum towards peace.
Albanese, who will be attending the UN General Assembly in September, expressed the same sentiment to parliament this week, while saying discussions with other nations were under way.
“The timing of a decision to recognise the state of Palestine will be determined by whether that decision advances the realisation of that objective,” he said.
“It must be more than a gesture. It must be something that’s a part of a moving forward.”
The bipartisan view is that a peace agreement, the return of hostages and the dismantling of Hamas are prerequisites for considering the two-state solution.
The Coalition is opposed to premature recognition.
“My view is that Palestinian statehood should come about, but it needs to come about in such a way that it guarantees a better future for the Palestinian people but also a secure future for Israel. And it’s been the traditional position in Australia,” Liberal senator and former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma tells The Saturday Paper.
“We support a two-state solution, but recognition would come as a result of the negotiated two-state solution.
“Other countries seem to be saying we’re going to address Palestinian statehood or give Palestinian statehood as a way to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza. It won’t. It’s not going to make any difference. In fact, it sort of risks complicating the whole picture and making it less likely.”
Husic says pressure works.
“I’m worried that an iron-fisted determination to just fulfil the game plan that we have outlined, no matter what, will leave us when there’s all this movement … with clay feet,” he tells The Saturday Paper.
“I’m concerned that we may be overly committed to a process when the moment demands almost a moral response.
“I think the country would, as one, welcome an adjusted move that provides recognition now but an expectation that our stated preconditions must be met.”
More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have warned of mass starvation in Gaza, while a group of UN-backed global food security experts issued an alert warning declaring that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is currently playing out in the territory.
While Labor has moved quickly in response, there has been more caution from the federal opposition under Sussan Ley. She was asked repeatedly in a Parliament House press conference if she accepted there was evidence of starvation in Gaza.
“It’s a complex situation on the ground. Like everyone, I’m very distressed by the images I’ve seen,” she told reporters.
“I’m pleased to see that aid is flowing further and better into Gaza. And I really encourage everyone who sees this situation for the reality it is, to remind others that Hamas, in control of the hostages, could end the war tomorrow.”
Liberal frontbencher James Paterson acknowledges the “very genuine suffering of the people of Gaza” but urges against early recognition of a Palestinian state as he says it would recognise a state that is “in part governed by a terrorist organisation”.
He says reports of widespread starvation are credible.
“As a supporter of Israel, I support their campaign to remove Hamas and to free the 50 hostages who remain in captivity,” he told the ABC’s RN Breakfast. “But I also expect that, as the military power in control of the region, they do everything they can to make sure that innocent civilians in Gaza are fed.”
Husic said that among Coalition responses he hugely respected “the much more nuanced approach of people like Senator Paterson”.
Sharma says the Coalition is united on the view that there is a humanitarian situation in Gaza based on high-level food insecurity.
“We recognise that there’s enough experts out there, well-qualified credentialled experts. There is also some misinformation, propaganda out there, but there seems to be enough credible experts out there that acknowledge this is the case,” he says. “And look, President Trump, who you would say is one of Israel’s staunchest defenders, has certainly publicly accepted that as well.”
MPs’ offices are seeing growing contact over the crisis and the prime minister has indicated his Sydney electorate office has again been shut down due to protest activity.
Late on Wednesday, the Zionist Federation of Australia, one of the nation’s leading pro-Israel groups, insisted it stood “shoulder to shoulder with the State of Israel” but called for action “without delay”.
“Our humanity also compels us to recognise the pain and suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza,” Zionist Federation president Jeremy Leibler said in a statement that also stressed that the “ultimate responsibility for this humanitarian situation lies with Hamas”.
“We are deeply troubled by the reports of hunger in parts of Gaza. We call upon Israel, the United Nations and their counterparts to do everything within their power to ensure that sufficient humanitarian aid flows to Palestinian civilians without delay. That is their collective moral obligation.”
Dean Sherr, a former adviser to Albanese and former national president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, welcomed the statement.
“The starvation has clearly galvanised a lot of horror in the world, even in the Jewish world,” Sherr tells The Saturday Paper.
“Clearly, the question of how Israel gets out and ends this is open. And the ceasefires that have existed have been the most effective way to get hostages home. And I think Israelis know that.
“I think the majority of Israelis know that, and they’re just looking for an end to this as well.”
The Greens, now holding the sole balance of power in the Senate, want all levers pulled when it comes to Israel and want to expand individual sanctions applied to more Israeli figures, beyond the current dozen that includes right-wing cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
This proposition has supporters in Husic and international law experts such as Donald Rothwell, but it was not embraced by the prime minister. He slammed the Greens for trying to “secure some domestic political advantage and damage social cohesion in this country”.
Later on Wednesday, the government and the Greens teamed up to pass an urgency motion calling Israel’s aid blockade a “breach of international law” that risks “mass death from starvation”. It also commits Labor to “diplomatic and further action” to pressure the Israeli government.
Husic, the first Muslim to be elected to federal parliament, does not want Australia to miss the moment.
“I don’t envy Penny Wong’s job,” he tells The Saturday Paper. “The multiplicity of sometimes competing, complex foreign policy considerations is like threading a needle in a gale-force breeze. I do not doubt for one minute how hard it is, but the moment is requiring the injection of agility to be able to respond to this humanitarian crisis of phenomenal proportion.
“The other thing I just want to emphasise is that recognition, of itself, will not end this crisis. There are a lot of things that have to happen for that to occur, but it is an important step.”
Western countries speak of a future Palestinian state as the nightmare unfolding in Gaza worsens
France, U.K. and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state won’t bring one about anytime soon. But it could further isolate Israel and strengthen the Palestinians’ negotiating position. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has reduced most of it to a smoldering wasteland and is pushing it toward famine. Israel says it is pressing ahead with plans to relocate much of its population of some 2 million to other countries. The U.S. is the only country with any real leverage over Israel, and it has taken its side on the issue of Palestinian statehood.“There is a wide tool set at the disposal of these countries, but there is no political will to use it,” an Israeli political analyst says of the U.N.’s recognition of a Palestinians state. The challenge, he says, “is for those recognizing countries to match their recognition with other steps, practical steps.’“It looks more like a way for these countries to appear to be doing something,’ a Palestinian scholar says.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Plans announced by France, the United Kingdom and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state won’t bring one about anytime soon, though they could further isolate Israel and strengthen the Palestinians’ negotiating position over the long term.
The problem for the Palestinians is that there may not be a long term.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood and has vowed to maintain open-ended control over annexed east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the war-ravaged Gaza Strip — territories Israel seized in the 1967 war that the Palestinians want for their state.
Israeli leaders favor the outright annexation of much of the West Bank, where Israel has already built well over 100 settlements housing over 500,000 Jewish settlers. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has reduced most of it to a smoldering wasteland and is pushing it toward famine, and Israel says it is pressing ahead with plans to relocate much of its population of some 2 million to other countries.
The United States, the only country with any real leverage over Israel, has taken its side.
Critics say these countries could do much more
Palestinians have welcomed international support for their decades-long quest for statehood but say there are more urgent measures Western countries could take if they wanted to pressure Israel.
“It’s a bit odd that the response to daily atrocities in Gaza, including what is by all accounts deliberate starvation, is to recognize a theoretical Palestinian state that may never actually come into being,” said Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
“It looks more like a way for these countries to appear to be doing something,” he said.
Fathi Nimer, a policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank, says they could have suspended trade agreements with Israel, imposed arms embargoes or other sanctions. “There is a wide tool set at the disposal of these countries, but there is no political will to use it,” he said.
It’s not a completely empty gesture
Most countries in the world recognized Palestinian statehood decades ago, but Britain and France would be the third and fourth permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to do so, leaving the U.S. as the only holdout.
“We’re talking about major countries and major Israeli allies,” said Alon Pinkas, an Israeli political analyst and former consul general in New York. “They’re isolating the U.S. and they’re leaving Israel dependent — not on the U.S., but on the whims and erratic behavior of one person, Trump.”
Recognition could also strengthen moves to prevent annexation, said Hugh Lovatt, an expert on the conflict at the European Council on Foreign Relations. The challenge, he said, “is for those recognizing countries to match their recognition with other steps, practical steps.”
It could also prove significant if Israel and the Palestinians ever resume the long-dormant peace process, which ground to a halt after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.
“If and when some kind of negotiations do resume, probably not in the immediate future, but at some point, it puts Palestine on much more equal footing,” said Julie Norman, a professor of Middle East politics at University College London.
“It has statehood as a starting point for those negotiations, rather than a certainly-not-assured endpoint.”
Israel calls it a reward for violence
Israel’s government and most of its political class were opposed to Palestinian statehood long before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Netanyahu says creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas and eventually lead to an even larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders. Hamas leaders have at times suggested they would accept a state on the 1967 borders but the group remains formally committed to Israel’s destruction.
Western countries envision a future Palestinian state that would be democratic but also led by political rivals of Hamas who accept Israel and help it suppress the group, which won parliamentary elections in 2006 and seized power in Gaza the following year.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority administers parts of the occupied West Bank, supports a two-state solution and cooperates with Israel on security matters. He has made a series of concessions in recent months, including announcing the end to the Palestinian Authority’s practice of providing stipends to the families of prisoners held by Israel and slain combatants.
Such measures, along with the security coordination, have made it deeply unpopular with Palestinians, and have yet to earn it any favors from Israel or the Trump administration. Israel says Abbas is not sincerely committed to peace and accuses him of tolerating incitement and militancy.
Lovatt says there is much to criticize about the PA, but that “often the failings of the Palestinian leadership are exaggerated in a way to relieve Israel of its own obligations.”
The tide may be turning, but not fast enough
If you had told Palestinians in September 2023 that major countries were on the verge of recognizing a state, that the U.N.’s highest court had ordered Israel to end the occupation, that the International Criminal Court had ordered Netanyahu’s arrest, and that prominent voices from across the U.S. political spectrum were furious with Israel, they might have thought their dream of statehood was at hand.
But those developments pale in comparison to the ongoing war in Gaza and smaller but similarly destructive military offensives in the West Bank. Israel’s military victories over Iran and its allies have left it the dominant and nearly unchallenged military power in the region, and Trump is the strongest supporter it has ever had in the White House.
“This (Israeli) government is not going to change policy,” Pinkas said. “The recognition issue, the ending of the war, humanitarian aid — that’s all going to have to wait for another government.”
Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed.
Israel Gaza live: Trump envoy to enter Gaza while nearly 100 aid-seekers killed in Israeli fire
Donald Trump is expected to approve a new Gaza humanitarian aid plan on Friday. US special envoy to Israel will enter Gaza today to “hear about this dire situation on the ground’ The death toll in Gaza has now reached more than 60,000, according to officials.
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Donald Trump is expected to approve a new Gaza humanitarian aid plan on Friday after his special envoy visits the besieged enclave, the White House has said.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will enter Gaza today to “hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground”.
The two held a “very productive” meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials to discuss urgent humanitarian assistance for Gaza.
Over 100 people have been killed, including 91 aid-seekers, in the last 24 hours ending Thursday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said.
The toll is expected to rise further as many of those killed or wounded were brought to isolated, smaller hospitals in northern Gaza and have not yet been counted.
Since the war began, the ministry has reportedly recorded 156 deaths from starvation and malnutrition, most of them in recent weeks, including at least 90 children.
The death toll in Gaza has now reached more than 60,000, according to local officials.
Citing Frustrations With EU, Slovenia Imposes Arms Embargo on Israel Over Gaza War
Slovenia is the first European country to ban the import, export and transit of weapons to and from Israel. The government said it was acting independently because the bloc was “unable to adopt concrete measures” An Israeli official told Haaretz that the decision is purely symbolic in nature.
“Slovenia is the first European country to ban the import, export and transit of weapons to and from Israel,” the government said in a statement, adding that it was acting independently because the bloc was “unable to adopt concrete measures” as it had requested.
An Israeli official told Haaretz that, since arms trade between the two countries was nonexistent, the decision is purely symbolic in nature.
Some two weeks, Slovenia declared two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, persona non grata, the first European Union country to do so. The government accused Israel’s national security minister Ben-Gvir and finance minister Smotrich – both West Bank settlers – of making “genocidal statements” and inciting violence against Palestinians.
Slovenia recognized a Palestinian state in June last year and has since repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza and increased aid deliveries to the enclave.
Israel has denounced declarations last week by France, Britain and Canada that they may recognize a Palestinian state, saying that it would reward Hamas for its October 7, 2023 attack.
Canada plans to recognize Palestinian state, raising allies’ pressure on Israel
Canada plans to recognize the State of Palestine at a meeting of the U.N. in September. Canada says its recognition must come with Palestinian Authority reforms. Israel, US say recognition “rewards Hamas” US special envoy Steve Witkoff to travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss Gaza.”The prospect of a Palestinian state is literally receding before our eyes,” Canada’s PM says.. Israel could threaten to annex parts of Gaza to increase pressure on Hamas, eroding Palestinian hopes of statehood on land Israel now occupies, a cabinet member says. Israel’s restrictions on food and other aid to Gaza in its war against Hamas militants are causing a humanitarian crisis. A global hunger monitor has warned that a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in the enclave, including a two-year-old girl with an existing health condition. The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said the Israeli military killed at least 50 people within three hours on Wednesday as they tried to get food from U.S. aid trucks.
Israel, US say recognition “rewards Hamas”
US special envoy Witkoff to travel to Israel on Thursday
OTTAWA/JERUSALEM, July 30 (Reuters) – Canada plans to recognize the State of Palestine at a meeting of the United Nations in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in Gaza.
The announcement came after France said last week it would recognize a Palestinian state and a day after Britain said it would recognize the state at September’s U.N. General Assembly meeting if the fighting in Gaza, part of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, had not stopped by then.
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Carney told reporters that the reality on the ground, including starvation of people in Gaza, meant “the prospect of a Palestinian state is literally receding before our eyes.”
“Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza,” he said.
Carney said the planned recognition was based in part on repeated assurances from the Palestinian Authority, which represents the State of Palestine at the U.N., that it was reforming its governance and is willing to hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas “can play no part.”
The announcements by some of Israel’s closest allies reflect growing international outrage over Israel’s restrictions on food and other aid to Gaza in its war against Hamas militants, and the dire humanitarian crisis there. A global hunger monitor has warned that a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in the enclave.
The Gaza health ministry reported seven more hunger-related deaths on Wednesday, including a two-year-old girl with an existing health condition. The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said the Israeli military killed at least 50 people within three hours on Wednesday as they tried to get food from U.N. aid trucks coming into the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel and its closest ally, the U.S., both rejected Carney’s statements.
“The change in the position of the Canadian government at this time is a reward for Hamas and harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made similar comments after the French and British announcements.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Donald Trump also sees recognition of the State of Palestine as wrongly “rewarding Hamas.”
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss Gaza. Trump said this week he expected centers to be set up to feed more people in the enclave.
The State of Palestine has been a non-member observer state of the U.N. General Assembly since 2012, recognized by more than three-quarters of the assembly’s 193 member states.
Jonathan Panikoff, former deputy U.S. national intelligence officer on the Middle East, said recognition of Palestine is intended “to increase pressure on Israel to compel it to return to a two-state paradigm.” But he said Canada’s announcement is “unlikely to be anything more than symbolic and risks undermining their relationship with a longtime ally in Israel.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Carney before Canada’s announcement, said the recognition of Palestine will “revive a prospect of peace in the region.”
POSSIBLE ULTIMATUM TO HAMAS
Item 1 of 3 Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference about recognizing Palestinian statehood while Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand listens, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. REUTERS/Patrick Doyle [1/3] Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference about recognizing Palestinian statehood while Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand listens, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. REUTERS/Patrick Doyle Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
Israeli security cabinet member Zeev Elkin said on Wednesday that Israel could threaten to annex parts of Gaza to increase pressure on Hamas, eroding Palestinian hopes of statehood on land Israel now occupies.
Mediation efforts to secure a 60-day ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas ground to a halt last week.
In Gaza, resident Saed al-Akhras said the recognition of Palestine by major powers marked a “real shift in how Western countries view the Palestinian cause.”
“Enough!” he said. “Palestinians have lived for more than 70 years under killing, destruction and occupation, while the world watches in silence.”
Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza appealed for no recognition of a Palestinian state to come before their loved ones were returned.
“Such recognition is not a step toward peace but rather a clear violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political failure that legitimizes horrific war crimes,” the Hostages Family Forum said.
Netanyahu said this month he wanted peace with Palestinians but described any future independent state as a potential platform to destroy Israel, so control of security must remain with Israel.
His cabinet includes far-right members who openly demand the annexation of all Palestinian land. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza was “closer than ever,” calling Gaza “an inseparable part of the Land of Israel.”
AID GOING IN, BUT NOT ENOUGH
A 2-year-old girl being treated for a build-up of brain fluid died overnight of hunger, her father told Reuters on Wednesday.
“Doctors said the baby has to be fed a certain type of milk,” Salah al-Gharably said by phone from Deir Al-Balah. “But there is no milk. She starved. We stood helpless.”
The deaths from starvation and malnutrition overnight raised the toll from such causes to 154, according to the Gaza health ministry, including at least 89 children, since the war’s start, most of them in recent weeks.
Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and designate secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations and its partners had been able to bring more food into Gaza in the first two days of pauses, but the volume was “still far from enough.”
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led attacks on communities and military bases in southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed, including more than 700 civilians, and another 251 taken as hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people and laid waste to much of the territory, the Gaza health ministry says.
Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Additional reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva and Michelle Nichols in New York and Matt Spetalnick; Writing by Tom Perry, Don Durfee and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Alison Williams, Bill Berkrot, Chris Reese and William Mallard
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