American Secretary of State Antony Blinken called, Wednesday, May 1, on Hamas to accept the new truce agreement proposal made by the mediators of the conflict, and on Israel not to carry out the large-scale military attack that Benjamin Netanyahu repeats wanting to lead on the city of Rafah, which brings together 1.5 million displaced Palestinians. He also called for the acceleration of humanitarian aid in the face of the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza, while the construction of the humanitarian port by the United States on the Palestinian territory is on track, but will not be enough, according to him.
Information to remember
⇒ Blinken called on Hamas to accept the truce agreement
⇒ Colombia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel
⇒ New arrests at American universities
In Israel, Blinken wants a truce agreement
The response was expected Wednesday evening, but is still not known. Visiting Israel, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken estimated, Wednesday, May 1, that “if Hamas really claims to care about the Palestinians and wants to see their suffering immediately alleviated, it should accept” the new proposed agreement, providing a 40-day truce as well as the exchange of hostages for Palestinians held by Israel. “Hamas must say yes,” Blinken said in Tel Aviv. “If he doesn’t do it, I think it will be further proof that he doesn’t have the slightest consideration” for the Palestinians.
After speaking for two hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Antony Blinken also suggested that Israel has “better solutions” against Hamas. He also reiterated Washington’s opposition to a “large-scale military operation” in the city of Rafah, where there are around 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.
Artificial port to help Gaza half-built
The construction by the American army of the artificial and temporary port, intended to allow more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the Gaza Strip, is advanced “more than 50%”, the Ministry of Defense of the United States announced on Wednesday. United. Announced in early March by President Joe Biden, this port should be operational in early May.
While visiting the Israeli port of Ashdod, which Israel agreed to reopen a few weeks ago to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid, Antony Blinken also called on Israel to “accelerate progress” in the delivery of humanitarian aid. ‘humanitarian aid. Among the measures Israel can implement: establishing a list of goods that will not be arbitrarily denied entry and issuing more permits for drivers to enter Gaza, he suggested. According to Israeli officials, the objective is still to bring 500 trucks per day into the territory, a figure far from reality for the moment according to NGOs.
Colombia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Wednesday that he wanted to sever all diplomatic ties with Israel, describing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “genocidal”. “We cannot return to times of genocide, of extermination of an entire people,” added the first left-wing president in the history of Colombia. A decision which amounts to a “reward” for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, responded Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, describing Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “anti-Semitic”. A decision on the contrary considered “as a victory for the sacrifices of our people and their just cause”, declared the Hamas leadership.
Colombia thus joins South Africa, Bolivia and Belize, which have already ended their diplomatic relations with Israel. Brazil and Colombia support South Africa’s historic case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for alleged violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Violence and arrests continue on American campuses
The police were deployed on several American campuses on Wednesday, where new arrests took place, after intervening in recent days in Los Angeles and New York, scenes of student mobilization against the war in Gaza which is shaking the United States.
The police intervened at the University of Texas at Dallas, where they dismantled a demonstrator camp and arrested at least 17 people for “criminal trespass” on Wednesday, but also at Fordham University in New York University or even in two universities in New York where 300 people were arrested according to the police.
Other camps were dismantled on the campus of the prestigious Columbia University in Manhattan, where the student mobilization in support of Gaza started, or on the campuses of the University of Arizona in Tucson, and at University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the southwest and north of the country respectively, according to local media.