Hamas said on Thursday that dozens of Israeli strikes had targeted the Gaza Strip, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to “increase the pressure” on the Islamist movement, despite calls from the families of hostages to end the war. In addition, the Israeli parliament adopted a resolution opposing “the creation of a Palestinian state” on Wednesday night. A vote that sparked “consternation” in Paris. France said that this decision was “in contradiction with the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council.”
Key information to remember
⇒ Amnesty International accuses Israel of subjecting Palestinian prisoners to “widespread torture”
⇒ Knesset adopts resolution “against the creation of a Palestinian state”
⇒ France expresses its “consternation” after this vote
Conditions of detention of Palestinians in Israel: Amnesty International denounces a “flagrant violation of international law”
Israel must stop holding Palestinians from Gaza “incommunicado” and subjecting them to “widespread torture” in its jails, Amnesty International urged on Thursday, accusing the country at war with Hamas of bending the law to target civilians. Questioned on Monday by AFP on similar accusations made by the Palestinian minister in charge of prisoners, the Israeli army rejected “categorically the allegations concerning systematic mistreatment of detainees” arrested since the start of the war.
“The Israeli authorities must end the practice of indefinite incommunicado detention without charge or trial of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, imposed under the (Israeli) Unlawful Combatants Detention Law,” which represents a “flagrant violation of international law,” Amnesty said in a statement.
This law, denounces the human rights NGO, allows the Israeli army to detain for indefinitely renewable periods any person from Gaza whom it suspects of having participated in hostilities or of representing a threat, without having to prove it. “It allows widespread torture and, in certain cases, institutionalizes enforced disappearances,” states in the press release the Secretary General of Amnesty, Agnès Callamard. The NGO claims to have collected information on 27 Palestinians who have experienced this detention. According to it, all those who spoke to Amnesty said they had been subjected to torture and other “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
Knesset adopts resolution ‘against Palestinian statehood’
The Israeli parliament adopted a resolution opposing “the creation of a Palestinian state” on Wednesday night, a few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington. The symbolic resolution, proposed by a right-wing opposition MP, received the support of 68 MPs from the ruling coalition and the opposition. Nine MPs voted against.
According to the resolution, “the Knesset firmly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River,” meaning in the West Bank (Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967) or in the Gaza Strip. “The creation of a Palestinian state in the heart of the land of Israel will constitute an existential danger for the State of Israel and its citizens, will perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region,” the text adds.
Paris “consternation” after Israeli resolution against Palestinian state
France expressed “its dismay” following the adoption by the Israeli parliament of a resolution rejecting the prospect of establishing a Palestinian state, stressing that this decision was “in contradiction with the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council”.
“Only the two-state solution is capable of bringing a just and lasting peace to both Israelis and Palestinians and of guaranteeing stability in the region,” reacted Christophe Lemoine, spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a written statement on Thursday. “France calls for an end to the questioning of this imperative recognized as such by the vast majority of the international community,” he added.
“The bloodshed in Gaza must stop immediately,” says Ursula von der Leyen
“The bloodshed in Gaza must stop immediately,” urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, saying that “too many children, women and civilians have lost their lives as a result of Israel’s response to Hamas’ brutal terrorism.”
“The people of Gaza can’t take it anymore, and humanity can’t take it anymore. We need an immediate and lasting ceasefire, we need the release of the Israeli hostages,” Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, in her speech ahead of her re-election as head of the EU executive for a second term.
Suez Canal revenues drop 23.4% due to Red Sea disruptions
Revenues from Egypt’s Suez Canal fell 23.4% year-on-year to $7.2 billion in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, following “repercussions from the Red Sea crisis,” particularly attacks by Houthi rebels — attacks the latter claim are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip — the Canal Authority said Thursday.
Quoted in the statement, the chairman of the public body that administers the canal, Oussama Rabie, attributed this decline to “the severe impact of the Red Sea crisis on traffic in the canal, as security concerns are prompting many ship owners and operators to take alternative routes.”