“An error”: American President Joe Biden has issued one of his strongest criticisms of the military strategy in Gaza of the government of Benyamin Netanyahu, who must justify this Wednesday, April 10 before the Supreme Court, his level of humanitarian aid at this time. Palestinian territory threatened with famine. At the same time, new deadly strikes took place overnight in the north and center of the territory.
Information to remember
⇒ Biden strongly criticizes the Israeli government’s military strategy, calling it a “mistake”
⇒ Netanyahu must justify, this Wednesday, before the Supreme Court his level of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip
⇒ Hamas says it is “studying” the new truce proposal drawn up in Cairo on Sunday
Netanyahu ‘made a mistake’ says Biden
“What I’m asking is that the Israelis call for a ceasefire, that they allow for the next six or eight weeks full access to food and medicine coming into the country,” he said on Tuesday. evening US President Joe Biden in an interview with the Spanish-speaking channel Univision.
“I think what he is doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” he added in response to a question about the Israeli Prime Minister’s conduct of the war in Gaza. Despite the warnings, Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, which he presents as the last great bastion of Hamas, and where 1.5 million people are crowded on the border with Egypt.
Israel announced on Sunday the withdrawal of its troops from the large neighboring town of Khan Younes, destroyed after several months of fighting, in order to prepare “the continuation of their missions in the Rafah area”, underline the Israeli authorities. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, an Israeli operation in Rafah does not appear “imminent”.
New deadly strikes in the north and center
Six months after the start of the war triggered by the bloody attack carried out by the Islamist movement Hamas against Israel, Israeli military operations continue in the Gaza Strip with, during the night, deadly strikes in the north and center of the territory, according to witnesses, as Muslims around the world celebrate Eid-el-Fitr on Wednesday, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
Hamas ‘studies’ new truce proposal
In Cairo, the mediating countries – Qatar, Egypt, United States – put a new proposal on the table on Sunday in three stages. The first provides for a six-week truce, the release of 42 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 800 to 900 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the entry of 400 to 500 trucks of food aid per day and the return home of the inhabitants of northern Gaza Strip displaced by the war, according to a source within Hamas.
Hamas said it was “studying the proposal” before transmitting its response to mediators, adding that Israel “had not responded to any” of its requests. The White House on Tuesday deemed these statements “not very encouraging”. Israel’s war cabinet also met Tuesday evening to discuss the proposed truce.
Israeli Supreme Court assesses level of military aid to Gaza
Israel is also facing very strong international pressure to allow more aid to pass into the territory threatened by famine according to the UN. In mid-March, five NGOs submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court in the hope that the authorities would “respect their obligations as an occupying power” by providing all necessary aid to the civilian population of Gaza.
After a first hearing last week, the court gave the government until April 10 to answer a series of questions on humanitarian policy in Gaza. On the eve of this deadline, authorities said that 468 trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the highest number in one day since the start of the war.
“We are seeing a radical change that we hope will continue and expand,” the head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power said in the Senate on Tuesday, calling on Israel to let in more than 500 trucks per day because “conditions are approaching famine in Gaza” after six months of uninterrupted violence.